Southern Automotive Alliance June-July 2018

JUNE/JULY 2018

PAM CONFER A strong voice for Nissan and for Canton, Mississippi

Industry Outlook Changing fuel economy standards raises the stakes for OEMS and consumers

RON DAVIS

Engineering the assembly of the Alabama Automotive Manufacturers Association

The National Corvette Museum Bash: Building community around America’s Sports Car

SIGN UP NOW FOR A FREE PRINT SUBSCRIPTION AT SOUTHERNAUTOMOTIVEALLIANCE.COM April 2012 BusinessAlabama.com | 1 JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 1

2 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 3

4 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 5

OCTOBER 3 – 5 SOUTHERN AUTOMOTIVE CONFERENCE AT L A NTA, GA • 1800 attendees • 300+ exhibitors • A dozen international pavilions • Innovation Zone • All-new Workforce Development Zone

ARE YOU IN Yet?

w w w. s o u t h e r n au t o c o n . c o m

PR ES EN T ED BY

PREMIER SPONSOR

gama IS A PROUD SPONSOR AND PLANNER OF SAC 2018

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 7

july.aug

2018

A close relationship between GM manufacturing and the National Corvette Museum brings devotees on a pilgrimage to a celebratory bash.

Supplier Profiles 46 Stäubli

Based in South Carolina, excelling in robotics

volume 3 number 3

50 Vascor

A logistics powerhouse in Kentucky

52 Optiware

Industry 4.0 optimization gets stronger after a merger

Faces of the Industry 54 Pam Confer

She’s the face of Nissan in Canton, Mississippi, an accomplished motivational speaker, and much more

56 Katherine James of IFS: her company’s

behind everything from double decker buses to key fobs, and in her spare time, she also takes care of first responders

58 Ron Davis

The main man at the Alabama Automotive Manufacturers Association has a lifelong and familial love of cars Departments

Features 20 EXECUTIVE Q&A

Mike Oatridge of Honda talks about commitment to the community — his company’s and his own

24 INDUSTRY OUTLOOK

What do the proposed changes to fuel economy standards mean for the automotive industry’s future?

28 PROCESS

The University of Alabama College of Continuing Studies works to educate people about the need to keep plant systems maintained in good repair

30 BUILT BY DESIGN

GM suppliers in Arlington, Texas share a site designed to make synergy and ontime delivery a reality

34 WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

In a unique effort, South Carolina Future Makers has brought thousands of students together with industry

36 BEST PRACTICES

Cybersecurity is not just for your computer anymore. The complex systems connected to your car need holistic protection

40 SPOTLIGHT

The National Corvette Museum Bash brings fans to the shrine for America’s sports car, where some of them can help install their own engines

Departments 10 From the Editor 12 Benchmarks/News Hub 60 Expert View 62 Industry News 64 Regional Reports 70 Industry Indicators/ Stocks 71 By the Numbers 72 Kudos 74 Career Notes 76 Index 78 Vintage

ON THE COVER: She overcame a dysfunctional background to become the face of Nissan, a voice for Canton, and an inspiration to those in her community who need it.

8 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 9

From the Editor

W

hen I was in elementary school, I signed up for the Scholastic Book Club, which tricked us all into loving reading by providing access to paperbacks tailored to our individual interests for ridiculously low prices, affordable on the average kid’s allowance.

One of the books I ordered (back when you actually filled out a paper form and turned it in with your money to the teacher) - was called Dragging and Driving.

It was written the same year I was born by a guy named Tom MacPherson and it ignited my interest in the subject of hot rods. I recall my little cheap paperback copy with great fondness. I’m not the only one, either; reviews for this venerable tome have made it into the digital age. Here’s one from Kirkus: For the car-infatuated teen-age reader, here is a sane and informative text on how and what to drive. Basic qualifications for driving, both on the part of the driver and automobile, are cited. The specifications of drag cars are given with various hints on how to revamp a non-racing car for drag-racing purposes. Advice on where and when to race is given as well as basic rules for first aid, in the event of an accident. An appendix of “”Draggin’ Jargon”” is provided.

It’s worth noting that Hemmings Daily, which bills itself as The World’s Leading Classic Car News Source, recommended Dragging and Driving as recently as 2017: Tom MacPherson’s Dragging and Driving taught hope-to-be hot rodders everything they needed to know to make their first runs down the track… MacPherson’s book has a message about safe driving under all circumstances at its core… through a comprehensive how-to approach that undoubtedly kept and held its young readers’ attention.

Dragging and Driving came along at the perfect time for me. I was at that point smitten by auto racing, reinforced on nearly a weekly basis by ABC’s Saturday afternoon television programming. My infatuation with the sport burned less brightly and consistently in the years afterward. But at times, I have felt a charge of nostalgia for that childhood mania.

One of those times was a few years ago when a certain magazine sent me to west Texas to cover the Big Bend Open Road Race. The BBOR is a friendly competition between drivers of souped-up hot-rods blasting down a long stretch of highway where the biggest obstacle to victory might well be the enormous black buzzards that also like to spend time on that road. Watching all that vroom-vrooming definitely took me back across the years to my unfulfilled childhood dreams.

That’s one of those things about cars: for many of us, they’re the stuff that dreams are made of.

Speaking of dream cars, this issue we revisit the National Corvette Museum for a yearly gathering of enthusiasts for one of America’s most enduring sports cars. We examine an innovative workforce development effort in South Carolina that has brought 60,000 young people into contact with OEMS and suppliers that might one day want to hire them. And we ease into coverage of a seventh state in the Southern automotive sector - the same one that still hosts the BBOR - Texas.

There’s a lot to get your motor running in this issue.

By the way, if you’re getting this magazine, why not subscribe? It’s easy and just as free as the magazine itself. Just visit our website, www.southernautomotivealliance.com and click on one of the easy subscription buttons or popups.

Drop me a line and let me know how well that worked – or tell me what you think about the magazine and what we ought to be writing about, at npatterson@pmtpublishing.com.

Nicholas Patterson, Editor Southern Automotive Alliance To subscribe at no cost and receive future issues via mail, visit southernautomotivealliance.com

10 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

PUBLISHER Walker Sorrell EDITOR Nicholas Patterson npatterson@pmtpublishing.com ART DIRECTOR Rebecca Reeves DESIGN EDITOR Cathy Still McGowin WEB PRODUCER Abby Parrott EDITORIAL STAFF Dave Helms, Stephen Potts, Erica West, Chris McFadyen ADMINISTRATION Molly Lipski Powell CIRCULATION Anita Miller ACCOUNTING Keith Crabtree ADVERTISING SALES Staci Moseley 205-802-6363 Ext. 103 smoseley@pmtpublishing.com Mark Singletary 205-807-3574 msingletary@pmtpublishing.com INTEGRATED MEDIA & EVENTS Sheila Wardy, 205-802-6363 Ext. 108 swardy@pmtpublishing.com 2204 Lakeshore Drive, Suite 120 Birmingham, AL 35209 (205) 802-6363 southernautomotivealliance.com T.J. Potts, President PMT Publishing, Inc. 3729 Cottage Hill Rd H • Mobile, AL 36609 pmtpublishing.com • 251.473.6269 Southern Automotive Alliance is published bimonthly by PMT Publishing Co., Inc. Copyright 2018 by PMT Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved.

Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission prohibited.

Address all correspondence to Southern Automotive Alliance, 3729 Cottage Hill Road, Suite H, Mobile, AL 36609 or 2204 Lakeshore Drive, Suite 120, Birmingham, AL 35209. Phone (251) 473-6269 in Mobile or (205) 802-6363 in Birmingham. FAX in Birmingham is (205) 8026393 and e-mail address is info@pmtpublishing. com. Letters to the editor are welcome or e-mail to npatterson@pmtpublishing.com. Please query the editor before sending unsolicited articles or photographs.

Moving? Please note US Postal Service will not forward magazines mailed through their Bulk Mail unit. Please send old label along with your new address 4-6 weeks prior to moving.

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 11

TEXT BY: DAVE HELMS

Industry Benchmarks Kia Team Develops Wireless Charging System For Soul EV

F

orget about dragging around pendulous charging cables and ponderous coupling devices. Hyundai-Kia America Technical Center and Mojo Mobility have developed a fast-charging wireless power transfer system on a test fleet of Kia Soul EVs1, paving the way toward a future where electric vehicle plugs aren’t necessary.

Mojo, a wireless technology company, and Hyundai-Kia have worked together for three years on the compact wireless charging system, capable of transferring more than 10 kW to the vehicle for fast charging while targeting an 85 percent grid-to-vehicle efficiency.

The project was installed on five Soul EVs and tested on the road for durability, safety and performance.

All the driver needs to recharge a vehicle is the skill to park.

Thanks to the efficiency of the system, the parking job doesn’t even have to be completely precise.

The system uses an electromagnetic field to transfer energy between two coils—a transmitter on the ground and a receiver on the bottom of the vehicle. Once parked, the car begins receiving energy through an inductive coupling to an electrical device, which then charges the vehicle’s batteries.

“We’re thrilled with the success of the system and its efficiency,” says William Freels, HATCI President. “We set out to develop wireless charging that has real world applications and is easy to use for the consumer. Now, with this fleet of wireless Soul EVs, we can clearly see a future of unplugged electric vehicles.”

The charging system isn’t yet ready for commercial production but points toward good possibilities for future Kia electric vehicles. n

N E W S

H U B

GET HIRED AT VOLVO Volvo Cars USA has lots to do before it begins cranking out Volvos at its new $1.2 billion manufacturing facility in rural Berkeley County, South Carolina.

But as always, one of the biggest tests is hiring. The first car, a redesigned S60 sedan, will be unveiled in June with production starting later in the summer, but only about half of its 1,500 workers needed for the first phase were hired by the end of

Vehicles Are Now A Potential Amazon Delivery Point

W

e knew cars were getting more connected, but the idea of letting a courier inside your vehicle to deliver a package is a new idea to many.

Amazon is about to make it happen.

Amazon recently introduced its home delivery service, called Key, and now it wants to expand the idea to personal vehicles. It’s being rolled out to Amazon Prime members in 37 cities, providing they have 2015 or newer Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac or Volvo with an active OnStar or Volvo On Call account.

Here’s how it works: Shoppers download the Key app and use it to communicate where they’ve parked, within range of an Amazon delivery location. It has to be a publicly accessible area. The shopper uses the car’s connected service to unlock the vehicle once the courier arrives, the package is placed in the trunk or back seat, and the app relocks the car. The shopper gets notifications of all the steps.

The app can’t be used to start the car. Unlike Amazon’s home delivery service, which has setup costs involving smart locks and video cameras, there’s no extra charge for Amazon vehicle delivery.

It’s one more benefit for Amazon Prime customers.

Amazon recently announced the program has topped 100 million members. n

April. The company hopes to eventually employ 4,000 by 2021.

The work will also increase the plant’s capacity.

TOYOTA SPENDS IN MISSISSIPPI Toyota Motor Corp. will spend $170 million and add 400 jobs to its Blue Springs, Mississippi assembly plant as it moves some production of the Corolla sedan from Canada. Work will commence later this year to fit the plant for building the next-generation Corolla sedan.

FUN IN BOWLING GREEN The automotive crowd needs its occasional break from stress. To that end, the Motor Trend Group says drag racing, burnouts, and classic cars will once again take over Beech Bend Raceway Park July 20-21 in Bowling Green, Kentucky, as America’s definitive showcase of customized cars returns. The 2018 Car Craft

12 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

Summer Nationals showcases more than 1,500 performance cars and attracts upward of 20,000 enthusiasts from across the country.

BATTERY FACILITY CHARGES UP ATLASBX Co. LTD will locate its first U.S. manufacturing facility in Clarksville, Tennessee, investing $75 million and creating approximately 200 jobs in Montgomery County.

T

PHOTO: NESHOBA DEMOCRAT

Richardson Molding In MS Has New Plant Manager

he Neshoba Democrat recently profiled the area’s newest corporate player, Bill Johns, who became plant manager this spring at Richardson Molding in Philadelphia.

Johns, who has worked in the injection molding business for 25 years, most recently was employed at International Automotive Components in Anniston, Alabama. Prior to that four-year stint, he worked for Johnson Controls Inc. and Plastec.

The new manager, recruited by Richardson CEO Steve Dyer, will help oversee a $5.256 million expansion of the Richardson plant announced in February that’s expected to create 53 jobs and potentially bring back jobs lost to China.

“New jobs are vital to the well-being of our state’s economy and to creating vibrant communities,” Governor Phil Bryant said when the expansion was announced.

“Richardson Molding’s investment in its Philadelphia operations and creation of more than 50 jobs position the company for many more years of success and growth in our state.”

The company is a leading manufacturer of proprietary and custom plastic injectionmolded products for the industrial lead-acid battery market. The expansion will install new equipment at its existing facility. Richardson Molding currently employs 135. n

The global automotive battery manufacturer will build a new manufacturing facility that will be completed by 2020.

The company will produce approximately 2.4 million batteries per year at the Clarksville facility.

TOYOTA KENTUCKY JUST KEEPS GROWING The Toyota factory in Georgetown, Kentucky, the largest vehicle assembly plant

GM Putting Hundreds Back To Work In Tennessee

G

eneral Motors Co. announced in late April that it plans to add a shift back to its plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, putting about 700 workers back on the line building GMC and Cadillace SUVs. It was more great news for SUVs, particularly set against the startling report the same week that Ford Motor Co. plans to all but abandon the U.S. car business, with just two new models in coming years, the Mustang and the Focus Active, a muscular hatchback.

GM concedes it will be heading the same direction on sedans and the Tennessee move underlined the strategy, given hot demand for the GMC Acadia and Cadillac XT5.

“This shift addition is not only an indication of the popularity of these GMC and Cadillac crossovers with customers but is testament to the great work being done by the Spring Hill Assembly team,” Ken Knight, Spring Hill Manufacturing Plant Executive Director, said in a release. “Their commitment to building quality vehicles is visible every day. It also demonstrates the strong spirit of teamwork between GM and our UAW partners, as we work together to satisfy our customers.”

GM will reportedly take some employees from an Ohio-based plant to fill out the new third shift, along with previously laid-off workers from Spring Hill. At the time of the announcement, the Spring Hill facility employed 2,600 hourly workers across two shifts. The plant, about 30 miles south of Nashville, covers 6.9 million square feet facility and opened in 1990. n

in Toyota’s global production network, continues to be a monster producer. It churns out 550,000 vehicles a year and can make more than 600,000 engines annually. The factory also buys components from more than 350 supplier locations in the U.S., including 100 inside Kentucky.

SMOKIN’ TITAN ROLLS Taking barbeque to another level, Nissan is debuting the

world’s first fully integrated in-truck-bed smoker and mobile kitchen, the specially modified 2018 Titan XD Gas King Cab dubbed “Smokin’ TITAN1.” Designed as a dream project vehicle for tailgating and barbecuing enthusiasts, it features a custom flatbed with a built-in Lang BBQ smoker and an abundance of cheffriendly features. Nissan builds several Titan variants in Canton, Mississippi.

DAIMLER DIPS Germany’s Daimler AG saw its first-quarter net profits slide 11 percent, mostly because of shifting currency exchanges and one-time gains from the year-earlier quarter.

The good news: Daimler had stronger earnings from its luxury car division and raised its profit forecast for the year.

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 13

BE N C HM A R K S

Steering Toward A Future With No Roadway Deaths

W SUV Fervor Shows No Signs Of Letting Up

T

he Southern auto industry continues to reflect the nationwide industry trend of building more sport utility vehicles than ever, with at least three states ramping up production.

Sales of SUVs and sport wagons rose 6 percent in 2017 against a 1.8 percent slide in overall vehicle sales, according to Autodata numbers.

Spacious interiors, extra seating and towing power are often cited as key factors for SUV preference.

Ford Motor Co. recently unveiled a three-row, mid-sized SUV for its venerable Lincoln brand. The Aviator will be the first plug-in hybrid Lincoln SUV with a twin-turbocharged engine. The company is switching up its manufacturing game plan to produce more SUVs and pickup trucks, in part by raising production targets of Expedition and Navigator SUV models by 25 percent at its Kentucky assembly plant.

Germany-based Volkswagen AG has developed a five-passenger version of its existing seven-passenger Atlas Cross Sport vehicle and, according to industry observers, plans to build the new model next year at its plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The VW Atlas was introduced in 2017 and has gotten solid reviews. It offers a plug-in hybrid version with 26 miles of battery range and an impressive 355 horsepower. Tennessee also gained a third shift for its SUV-building GM plant in Spring Hill.

While it’s still mostly on the drawing board, the new ToyotaMazda plant in Huntsville, Alabama has been mentioned as an SUV producer on the Mazda side. Hyundai in Montgomery has also ramped production on its newly redesigned 2019 Santa Fe. n

N E W S

H U B

LEAR LOOKING UP Lear Corp., a leading global supplier of automotive seating and electrical systems with divisions in Alabama and other Southern states, recently reported record results for the first quarter 2018. The company saw Q1 sales of $5.7 billion, up 15 percent from a year ago.

POWERMOTION ACQUIRED AIR HYDRO POWER INC., headquartered in Louisville,

hat if nobody died on the road by, say, 2050? Such safety is the aim of the Illinoisbased Road to Zero Coalition, managed by the National Safety Council.

Road to Zero Coalition recently released a comprehensive report laying out strategies for ending roadway deaths in the United States. It’s a first for so many organizations to be involved in a plan to address motor vehicle fatalities, and it’s important because such deaths have recently increased after years of decline.

The report identifies three main strategies: • Double down on what works through proven, evidence-based strategies.

• Advance life-saving technology in vehicles and infrastructure.

• Prioritize safety by adopting a safe systems approach and creating a positive safety culture.

“We demand 100 percent safe operations in aviation, marine, pipeline, rail and transit, we should cultivate a corresponding societal demand for safe roads,” says Deborah A.P. Hersman, president and CEO of the National Safety Council. “With these three guidelines, everyone can do something to reduce fatalities on the roadway. Getting to zero fatalities is not impossible – it just hasn’t been done yet.”

In the short term, the report stresses enforcing and strengthening current traffic safety laws, providing new resources for traffic safety researchers and practitioners, and supporting those who design and build roads and vehicles.

The Coalition proposes accelerating the benefits of new technologies by creating partnerships between public safety and health groups and industry professionals that could identify incentives for faster adoption and focus on applications with the greatest safety benefit. n

Kentucky, has acquired Powermotion Inc. of Birmingham. Started by Hugh Cottingham and Roy Costner in 1972, Powermotion brings over 45 years of experience supporting customers throughout Alabama.

new desire to move beyond its emissions cheating scandal by concentrating on electric cars over diesel. VW reportedly is also looking at combining its multiple car brands into just three groups and selling its truck business.

VW’S ELECTRIC CURE Volkswagen, the world’s biggest automotive company, has a new leader in Herbert Diess and, industry observers say, a

AIR HYDRO POWER NOW IN ROBOTS Air Hydro Power is now an authorized distributor of Universal Robots, a

14 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

manufacturer of collaborative robots with small footprints that can provide fast return on investments.

FORD’S FUEL-STINGY F-150 Ford’s F series diesel engine recently recorded a 30 mpg highway EPA rating. The 2018 Ford F-150 Power Stroke diesel thus claims the highest EPA-estimated highway fuel rating for a full-sized pickup truck.

Autocar Unveils $120M Plant In Alabama

By the time the dignitaries came together to cut the ribbon at Autocar’s new plant site, the company had already hired a third of the employees it will need to start.

I

ndiana-based Autocar Trucks in April unveiled its new $120 million, one million-square-foot complex in Birmingham, where it will build trucks used by food manufacturers, freight logistics companies and waste haulers worldwide.

The ribbon cutting was attended by Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and other top officials, who got a tour of where the severe-duty ACX cab-over-engine truck model is assembled. The plant is expected to create 746 jobs and Autocar has already reached a third of that hiring goal, recruiting additional team members for production, engineering and management spots.

The plant represents Alabama’s fourth major motor vehicle OEM assembly plant, after the recent announcement that Toyota-Mazda will build a plant in Huntsville.

Autocar was founded in 1897, built the nation’s first truck in 1899 and developed many technical innovations now common in all cars and trucks. When the factory was announced in September 2017, Autocar said the average annual base compensation for its workforce would be more than $58,000.

“Autocar already has a significant impact on Jefferson County, and will continue to do so with this new manufacturing plant,” says Gov. Ivey. “By continuing to invest in Alabama, Autocar further proves that what we’re doing in our state is working.”

Since its announcement in September, the team has built

SORRY, NO BLACK BOX Accident investigators looking into a fatal car crash in California recently involving a Tesla Inc. Model X found the vehicle’s computers had recorded plenty of information about the moments just before the wreck, but they couldn’t access it. Tesla data is stored using a proprietary format that can only be accessed by Tesla.

TOYOTAS GET TO TALKING In the next three years Toyota Motor Corp. aims to put shortrange communication chips in its U.S. products, allowing them to send data on speed and location to surrounding infrastructure and vehicles.

“Talking” cars could thus warn each other of coming slowdowns or hazards.

trucks for customers in 46 states and provinces, and in the near future expects to have built trucks for every state in the country. Helping build the trucks are the 54 local companies that Autocar has employed since the announcement.

“Nine months ago, we set out to bring the production of an American-owned, American-made truck to the great State of Alabama – and to do it not over the course of years, but months,” says Autocar Chairman Andrew Taitz at the ceremony.

For the Birmingham metropolitan area, operations at the company will generate $600 million annually in economic impact, which includes $224 million contributed to the metro’s GDP and $123.9 million in earnings to households from the 2,538 direct and indirect jobs.

Autocar worked closely with the State of Alabama Department of Commerce, the Jefferson County Commission, the City of Center Point, the City of Birmingham, AIDT, the Birmingham Business Alliance, Alabama Power and others on this major economic development project.

The company, based in Hagerstown, Indiana, has focused on severe-duty, cab-over trucks since its beginning, particularly Class 8 concrete pump trucks, refuse and recycling trucks, terminal tractors, and other heavy-lifting vocational applications. n

BMW CONFIDENT ON TRADE BMW released a statement in April, responding to Associated Press reports that its Spartanburg, S.C. plant could be a loser in any potential trade war between the U.S. and China. The statement notes that BMW’s U.S. plant exported more than 70 percent of its total production volume of 371,284 units last year to 123 countries.

Approximately one-fourth of the BMW X models manufactured in

the U.S. in 2017 were exported to China. China is the number one export destination for the X models produced by BMW here in the U.S. SORTING OUT NAFTA Negotiators from the United States, Canada and Mexico have worked for months on updating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), reportedly trying to settle issues involving automobile content.

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 15

BE N C HM A R K S

Drive Change Steers Commuters Toward Clean Options

G

eorgia Commute Options, a program of the Atlanta Regional Commission, in April launched Drive Change, a program focused on reducing congestion and smog emissions from single-occupancy vehicle travel across 19 counties in metro Atlanta.

The Drive Change campaign urges the drivers in all those cars to consider a more green option of getting to and from work or school. Those options might include transit, carpools, vanpools, biking, walking or flexible work arrangements, telecommuting or a compressed work schedule.

An estimated 2.5 million people will move to the Atlanta metro area by 2040, making the goal of decreasing ground traffic a vital element of the city’s quality of life. “The Drive Change campaign will serve as a great sticking point to make commuters and employers aware of existing initiatives and incentives,

F

and we’ll also be launching new programs, all with the goal of driving real and meaningful change into daily commuting,” says Malika Reed Wilkins, executive director of Georgia Commute Options.

Research conducted for Drive Change suggests many commuters are open to trying commute alternatives to earn cash incentives. As part of the Drive Change program, Georgia Commute Options is promoting its existing cash incentives for commuters who opt to try a new option: • Gimme Five: Program participants can earn $5 a day — up to $150 — for trying a new commute option other than driving alone.

• $25 Enter to Win: Existing clean commuters are entered to win monthly $25prizes for logging their commutes.

• Monthly Gas Card: Carpoolers with three or more riders can earn monthly gas cards.

• Vanpool $50 Referral: Individuals can receive $50 for referring a new vanpool rider after that new rider has completed three consecutive months on a vanpool.

There’s even a cure for that most dreaded fear of not having your own ride: the Guaranteed Ride Home option. Program participants are promised a guaranteed ride home when unexpected events occur with up to five free rides, by taxi or rental car, to their home or car in case of emergency.

For more information about the Drive Change campaign or Georgia Commute Options’ incentive programs, visit www. gacommuteoptions.com/drivechange. n

Ford Going All In On Electric Vehicles, 40 Models By 2022

ord Motor Co. is making moves to offer 40 hybrid and completely electric vehicles in its model lineup by 2022, an investment of $11 bill, Chairman Bill Ford said recently.

The company shocked many in late April by announcing that it’s mostly leaving the sedan market, with just the Mustang and Focus Active in the mix by 2020.

The company had previously targeted its electric

N E W S

H U B

Industry reports indicate that they want to finish the NAFTA revamp before Mexico’s July 1 presidential election.

WISDOM FROM STUDENTS Toyota Motor North America has partnered with Alabama A&M University to help solve mobility issues. David Fernandes, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama, says the company will give an initial grant of $300,000 to fund

the initiative, which includes scholarships.

AIR MAKES THIS INSULATOR LIGHT Blueshift Materials, based at Texas State University’s Star Park incubator in San Marcos, has developed polymer aerogels, similar to foam but consisting of 85 per air, that can be used as a small footprint insulation material for automotive and other uses.

16 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

investment at $4.5 billion by 2020. According to Reuters, Ford’s 2016 costs for engineering, research and development expenses came to $7.3 billion, up from $6.7 billion the year before.

Ford has so far revealed little about how its plants in Kentucky and elsewhere will be affected by the push for electric vehicles. n

The aerogels can also withstand temperature extremes from -200 to 300 degrees Celcius, and have a high strength-to-weight ratio.

KEEP DRIVERS ENGAGED The National Transportation Safety Board recently opened three new cases, two of them involving Tesla vehicles, after concern arose that drivers weren’t paying enough attention after engaging next-generation

cars to operate themselves. The move underlines the difficulties of meshing new tech with variable driver control.

LEXUS, CHRYSLER WIN IN TEXAS Lexus and Chrysler won the top two awards at the 2018 Texas Auto Roundup, presented by the Steel Market Development Institute. The 2018 Lexus LC 500 was crowned the overall Car of Texas while the 2018 Chrysler

Redesigned 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe Rolls In Montgomery

H

yundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama planned to begin production of its newly redesigned 2019 Santa Fe this month, a vehicle that was unveiled in March at the New York International Auto Show.

The 2019 Santa Fe, its best-selling SUV, is the model’s fourth generation and will offer a bold, muscular exterior, cutting-edge technology and an interior meant to keep every member of the family happy.

On the outside, the new Santa Fe is highlighted by Hyundai’s signature cascading grille and composite light design comprising LED daytime running lights positioned on top of the LED headlights. Designers say its featured diamond-cut 19-inch wheels communicate strength, as does the car’s rear appearance, now featuring a muscular high and taut shape.

The interior offers a roomy layout, horizontal design theme and enhanced visibility. Available in some models will be a heads-up display, projecting an 8.5-inch virtual image onto the windshield to inform the driver of conditions while keeping their eyes on the road.

The audio/visual/navigation system screen has been tilted and positioned to reduce glare and window switches and grab handles have been moved forward for more elbow room. Cup holders in the center console have been repositioned for ease of use and the height and length of the center armrest has also been increased.

A

On the safety front, Hyundai’s Rear Cross Traffic CollisionAvoidance Assist puts eyes and legs in the back of drivers’ heads. Using the Blind Spot Detection system’s radar sensors when backing up, the system can not only warn the driver if vehicles approach from the rear side, it also applies the brakes automatically.

Rear Occupant Alert, which Hyundai is debuting with the Santa Fe, monitors the rear seats using an ultrasonic sensor that helps to detect the movements of children and pets. The system first reminds drivers to check the rear seats when exiting the vehicle with a message on the center instrument cluster display.

If the system detects movement in the rear seats after the driver leaves the vehicle and locks the doors it will honk the horn and send a Blue Link alert to the driver’s smartphone via Hyundai’s Blue Link connected car system. n

Nissan Shifting Focus After 28% Sales Setback In April

pril sales figures in the U.S. were tough on several carmakers, but Nissan Motor Co.’s 28 percent drop got the most attention, with nearly every model in the Nissan and Infiniti lineup taking a hit, including the popular crossover Nissan Rogue.

Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV beat Wall Street estimates, but Nissan’s bad news had eyes bugging out, according to Michelle Krebs, senior analyst for Autotrader.

Pacifica took home the event’s other top award, the Family Car of Texas.

cause of death is listed as open head trauma and entrapment in moving machinery.

WORKER DIES IN SOUTH CAROLINA An accidental death was being investigated in April when a victim identified as Bojan Sprah, 45, of Boiling Springs, South Carolina died at BMW Manufacturing’s automotive assembly paint shop in Greer.

Authorities said the preliminary

A VW PICKUP TRUCK? America is the land of the pickup truck, and Volkswagen wants a piece of it. According to news from the New York International Auto Show, the Volkswagen Atlas Tanoak now exists as a concept vehicle, and while no production plans have been made the company is trying to

Indications were that Nissan will respond to the setback by reducing sales to fleet customers such as daily rental companies.

Nissan’s new CEO, Hiroto Saikawa, said in January that the company would concentrate on “quality” sales to raise revenue.

Saikawa in May also rejected notions that the company would merge with its French partner, Renault, saying such a deal held “no merit.”

Nissan Rogue sales were down 14.8 percent in April. n

gauge consumer interest.

YOROZU OPENS UP Yorozu Automotive Alabama official opened its $100 million facility in Jasper in late March, celebrating a company that has grown in Walker County from 37 employees two years ago to 170 employees now. It makes automotive suspension systems and other parts.

SUBSCRIBE NOW FOR CARS Tennessee has been selected

by BMW AG for a new carsubscription pilot program, allowing automakers to tinker with new ownership models.

Access by BMW kicked off at a dealership in Nashville in early April, allowing a members-only service giving clients unlimited access to a diverse fleet of BMW vehicles for a flat, predetermined monthly fee.

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 17

B E N C HM A R K S

New Port Facility Should Speed Southern Auto Exports L-R: Robert Murchison, President of Terminal Zárante S.A, James K. Lyons, director & chief executive officer for the Alabama State Port Authority, and Yurik Díaz, Manager of SAAM Puertos S.A. execute a Memorandum of Understanding to establish an automotive logistics (RO/RO) terminal at the Port of Mobile during a signing ceremony held yesterday at the Palacio Duhau in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

T

he Alabama State Port Authority and AutoMobile International Terminal, a joint venture of Terminal Zárate S.A. and SAAM Puertos S.A., agreed in April to develop and operate a $60 million roll-on/ roll-off facility at the Port of Mobile.

Work will begin later this year on the facility, meant to meet growing automotive demand across the Gulf of Mexico. Alabama port officials started an RFP in late 2016 and selected the partnership between Terminal Zárate S.A. and SAAM Puertos S.A. “This agreement represents a key step in diversifying the Port Authority’s business while providing a strategic asset to regional automotive shippers,” says Jimmy Lyons, CEO of the Alabama State Port Authority.

The new terminal would convert approximately 57 acres of a derelict bulk material handling facility into the automotive processing and logistics terminal. Mobile’s port has a 40-foot ship draft facility served by five Class I railroads serving all of North America and immediate access to two interstate systems.

The project will be funded by the Port Authority’s recent $12.7 million Transportation Infrastructure Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant and the $28.8 million grant from the Alabama Gulf Coast Recovery Council, formed after the BP oil spill in 2010.

Terminal Zárate S.A., a company owned by Grupo Murchison and Cotía Trading, is headquartered in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It specializes in port services; cars, containers and project cargo handling operations; storage and logistic services; warehousing; equipment rental and other activities.

SAAM Puertos is a subsidiary of Sociedad Matriz SAAM S.A.; a Chilean multinational company listed on the Santiago Stock Exchange that provides foreign trade services by means of port terminal operations, towage and logistics in 13 countries in America. n

N E W S

H U B

MID-ATLANTIC PORTS BOOM Finished automobile shipments for U.S. South Atlantic ports have seen brisk business recently. According to the Georgia Ports Authority, Brunswick and nearby Jacksonville, Florida compare with Baltimore for roll on, rolloff vehicle shipments, handling nearly 700,000 units in their most recent fiscal year.

SIDE-VIEW MIRRORS OUT? Picture a world where sideview mirrors are a thing of the past. Stoneride Inc.’s Mirror Eye system, now in use in Europe, would replace mirrors on large trucks with multiple individually wired cameras that provide views of adjacent lanes, including blind spots.

CARS LOVE THEIR CHIPS Computer chipmaker Texas Instruments recently surpassed

18 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

As Trade War Concerns Rise, China Gives Automakers A Gift

C

hinese leaders vowed in mid-April to eliminate rules by 2022 that require foreign automakers to split factory ownership and profits with Chinese companies. The move immediately sent U.S. equity-index futures higher as business officials in the U.S. hailed what they see as a more level playing field.

China, the world’s biggest auto market, has thus far been an enigma to most U.S. automakers. Tesla, beloved by the media and hated on Wall Street, could benefit most from the new rules in the Far East. Chinese officials say factory ownership rules will be eliminated this year for companies building electric vehicles.

“This will completely change the situation in China within 10 years,” Yale Zhang, managing director of Shanghai-based consultancy Automotive Foresight, commented to media outlets.

President Trump, meanwhile, asserted that his pressuring of Chinese officials on trade issues had a part in the rules modification. Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum this spring caused the stock market to flutter as the world’s two largest economies appeared to be sliding into a trade war.

China responded to the U.S. move with $3 billion worth of tariffs of its own, on 128 products from the United States. n

Wall Street expectations for firstquarter profits, in part due to strong sales of semiconductors used in the automotive industry.

Self-driving cars are expected to continue the trend.

OEMS AFFECTED BY SUPPLIER FIRE Shortly before press time for this issue, OEMs in the Southern automotive sector were continuing to deal with the fallout from a May 2 fire at the

Eaton Rapids, Michigan plant of Meridian Magnesium Products of America. The fire and explosions at the plant injured workers and caused a partial shutdown of the plant, which is a leading manufacturer of magnesium components, including those used in the cockpits of SUVs built at the Mercedes-Benz U.S. International plant in Vance, Ala. The ripple effect caused interruptions in MBUSI’s production schedule as well as

Distracted Driving 100 Times Worse Than Previously Thought

B

ad news from the distracted driving front: Everybody else is using their phone behind the wheel as much as you are, according to a newly released study from Zendrive.

More than 60 percent of people use their phones at least once while behind the wheel on an average day, meaning at least 69 million drivers use their phones while driving. Previous government data estimated that during daylight hours, approximately 660,000 people use cell phones while driving. The reality is more than 100 times worse than this previous estimate.

Drivers were studied from December 2017 through February 2018, with anonymized data from 4.5 million drivers who covered 7.1 billion miles on the road.

Phone use while driving was tracked when the car was moving and the phone handled by the driver for various purposes such as talking, texting, or navigating. Drivers who used data when the vehicle was stopped, parked, or otherwise idle were not counted.

The study also concluded that the average amount of phone use behind the wheel has increased 3 minutes and 40 seconds; this is an increase of 10 seconds from 2017. Phone bans have little impact on phone use: 16 states ban drivers from using handheld phones, but even in nearly all of these states, phone use is on the rise. Also, phone use occurs most often at the start of each trip: The majority of driver phone use is in the first 5 percent of the drive, when drivers are transitioning to vehicle operation “The data collected in our latest study reveals a great deal about the behavior of drivers who use their phones when their eyes should be on the road,” says Zendrive CEO Jonathan Matus. “If drivers can remember to send that last text, set their map destination, or cue up their favorite playlist before they back out of the driveway, they can help to keep the roads safer for everyone.” n

impacting production of F-Series Super Duty pickups built at Ford’s Louisville, Kentucky plant. There were similar delays and other issues for GM, Fiat Chysler and Ford production of the F-150 pick-up at plants in Michigan and Missouri.

CALIFORNIA WATCHES ROBOT CARS Consumer Watchdog in May backed a Californian Department of Motor Vehicles demand that

eight robot car manufacturers make it clear to the public how the vehicles they have on the road are actually performning.

Waymo (formerly Google’s robot car unit), GM Cruise, Baidu USA, Delphi Automotive, Drive.ai, Nissan, Telenav, and Zoox are all currently permitted to test their robot cars on public roads with safety drivers onboard.

The effort was designed to clarify “vague information” the companies provided in

Stäubli Corp.

Shows Off Products At Mississippi Industry Show

S

täubli Corp., an automotive parts supplier headquartered in South Carolina, exhibited at the 2018 Innovation Conference at the Nissan North America Plant in Canton, Mississippi.

The April event showcased the latest technologies for improving quality and productivity within the automotive industry, with more than 60 exhibitors.

Stäubli’s fluid connectors division showed off automotive solutions including robotic multitool changers, multi-couplings for framing gate applications, mono-couplings and more. The company also displayed its RobiFix connector for spot-welding robots and its CombiTac modular versatile connector system featuring individual combinations of various contact types such as electrical, fluid, and pneumatic in a compact frame or housing.

Stäubli North America, located in Duncan, South Carolina, has over 200 employees supporting textiles, connectors and robotics customers. Its sales force has locations on the West Coast, Canada and Mexico.

The company’s products encompass stamping, die casting and painting, as well as all automotive body shop, assembly line, engine plant, paint shop, prototype test center and foundry operations. n

the 2017 autonomous vehicle disengagement reports.

The nonprofit Consumer Watchdog said the supplemental information in the eight reports further confirmed that selfdriving cars cannot actually drive themselves. The 2017 disengagement reports released earlier this year revealed that robot cars tested cannot drive more than 5,596 miles in the best-case scenario—and only a few hundred in most cases

- without a human test driver taking over the wheel.

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT HIGHLIGHTS AUTOMOTIVE Alabama agencies at the North Alabama Workforce Workshop conference are gearing up to help Toyota-Mazda open their new plant in Huntsville. efforts include AIDT helping with hiring and community colleges providing certificates and credentials.

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 19

EXECUTIVE Q&A INTERVIEW BY: NICK PATTERSON / PHOTOS COURTESY OF HMA

Investment and commitment Honda V.P. Mike Oatridge talks about how the Japanese automaker thrives in Alabama and how employees give back

M

ore than 4,500 people work at Honda Manufacturing of Alabama, a 1,350-acre site located about 40 miles east of Birmingham in Lincoln. The Talladega County plant, which started production in 2001 builds models including the Odyssey mini-van, the Pilot SUV, the Ridgeline pickup, the Acura MDX luxury SUV, and the V-6 engines that go into all of them.

The same year production started at the facility, Canada-native Mike Oatridge moved to Alabama to continue

20 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

a career at Honda he had begun in 1989.

Today he serves as vice-president of Manufacturing for the company.

Q: You’ve talked recently about the importance of workforce development. What can local schools or local government do to help make sure the labor force is ready for the challenges of automaking going forward?

A: Alabama is a progressive state that continues to grow and attract strong companies in a diversified field of automotive, bio medical, and

several key industries, and Lincoln [the town where the Honda plant is located] is obviously a part of that.

Lincoln, Talladega County and the surrounding counties have developed strong technical skills programs at local schools and community colleges.

Honda is fortunate to have a strong partnership with these local community and technical schools, as well as state colleges like Auburn University, University of Alabama, Alabama A&M University, Alabama State University and UAB to draw students with technical skills into business and to

help make sure these students know the opportunities that are available to them.

The partnerships that HMA has made over the past 17 years continue to grow as we challenge ourselves to meet and exceed our customer’s expectations.

Development of our associates and attraction of new technical skills will allow us to stay ahead of an everchanging technological market.

Manufacturing jobs are becoming more about technical skill and craftsmanship as the complexity of vehicles continues to increase. We recently hosted the fourth annual “Gear Up Your Career” event in conjunction with Barber Motorsports Park, where we welcomed students and guests at the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama to get hands-on experience with manufacturing processes and learn about the skills required.

We will also continue to partner with local and state leadership, the Alabama Workforce Council and the Alabama Industrial Development Training [AIDT] on developing those skills and initiatives because that is fundamental to our success a company, as well as our success as a state.

Honda Manufacturing of Alabama continues to invest capital into its plant in the Lincoln community, announcing an additional $85 million in 2017 for a multiphase project to improve flexibility, strengthen logisitic efficiency and prepare for future models

Q: What’s the most exciting development at Honda in Alabama at the moment?

What developments in auto manufacturing in general are you particularly interested in connecting to your work at Honda?

A: Recently, HMA has updated its product lineup and introduced three all-new models within the last three years – the all-new Pilot in 2015, the redesigned Ridgeline in 2016 and the all-new Odyssey minivan in May 2017. In 2015, HMA also opened a state-of-the-art engine assembly facility, which is one of the most highly automated engine assembly operations in all of Honda.

In 2017, Honda Manufacturing of Alabama announced an investment totaling $85 million for a multi-phase project to improve vehicle manufacturing flexibility, strengthen the logistic efficiency for future models and prepare for future technologies.

The new investment includes building expansions at the south end of both of our Line 1 and Line 2 vehicle assembly operations. Construction for this initial phase of the project is on track to be completed in 2018.

We have a very special team in Lincoln. I am very proud to come to work each day and build some of the best cars that Honda has to offer, with some of the best associates who wear the Honda uniform.

This significant financial investment in our Lincoln facility will enhance Honda’s manufacturing efficiency and flexibility to help us meet strong customer demand for our products and prepare us for future opportunities in our industry.

As for future developments, as you know, the auto industry is highly competitive, so we can’t really talk about future plans.

E X E C U TI V E

Q& A

As a company, we also partner with local churches, food banks, United Way organizations and participate with local schools on many initiatives, including Read Across America Day every March and Manufacturing Day in October.

Our associates also play a large role in Honda’s community involvement by volunteering their personal time with several of these local organizations.

Engagement and a strong relationship between our associates and the community are key, and our hope is to continue to grow these activities and be a positive role model in the community and in the state.

Being born and raised in Canada and now calling Alabama home for more than 17 years, I think I bring a unique perspective to the ‘perception versus reality’ of the state of Alabama and the city of Birmingham.

Q: Honda has had a change in leadership in Alabama – from Jeff Tomko to Tsutomu Morimoto. How does that affect operations going forward?

A: It has been our practice since the start of operations at HMA more than 17 years ago, that there will be a leadership change every two or three years at our facility. This is a common practice throughout Honda’s global operations and is designed to enhance leadership opportunities throughout our company.

We are very honored to have Mori join our HMA team as our new president and we look forward to his leadership and his vision for our company.

Q: Describe your day-today work as vice-president of manufacturing at Honda Manufacturing of Alabama.

A: That’s a difficult question. If there is one constant I have learned in my 30 years with Honda it is that every day is different! There are new challenges, new opportunities, new prospects that come up almost every day in the auto industry.

But the other constant that I have found is the pleasure I have in working 22 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

with some of the most committed and dedicated associates at Honda Manufacturing of Alabama.

We have a very special team in Lincoln.

I am very proud to come to work each day and build some of the best cars that Honda has to offer, with some of the best associates who wear the Honda uniform.

Q: Honda employees seem to engage in a lot of community outreach and service. Talk about why that’s important in the community where you work. And talk about an effort in that vein that means a lot to you.

A: We are engaged with so many different community partnerships, it is difficult to pick just one and expand on it. Honda’s fundamental belief is that we want to be a company that society and our community want to exist.

HMA associates sit on many boards that support the community, including the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Workforce Development, McWane Science Center, Economic Development Partnership of Alabama and countless other organizations.

Q: You in particular have been involved in the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. Why is that important to you?

A: I am very humbled to serve as the president of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. There is an incredible history to be told at the BCRI and I consider it a distinct honor to work with the Foot Soldiers of the U.S. Civil Rights movement through this organization.

We all know the role that Birmingham had in the movement. But the challenge is utilizing the resources of the Institute to communicate the history, educate about the struggle and celebrate the transformation that has taken place in the fabric of American culture through the efforts of Dr. King and the change advocates that emerged from this city.

For me, being born and raised in Canada and now calling Alabama home for more than 17 years, I think I bring a unique perspective to the “perception versus reality” of the state of Alabama and the city of Birmingham. Alabama is a wonderful place to call home and I’ve found Birmingham to be a vibrant, active and culturally diverse city. I believe there is a very bright future for Birmingham. And I believe the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute has an important role not only as a museum of the movement, but as catalyst for the exchange of ideas where a brighter future for us all can be realized. n

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 23

INDUSTRY OUTLOOK

CHANGING FUEL ECONOMY STANDARDS Consumer expectations and economic realities compete in battle to determine what will become the industry norm for miles per gallon TEXT BY: BILL GERDES

T

he implications of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announcement this past April that it plans to rescind the Obama administration’s fuel efficiency and emissions standards for vehicles manufactured between 2022 and 2025 are about as numerous as the number of models of vehicles now available to consumers.

The announcement also signaled the beginning of another phase in the country’s never-ending attempt to regulate fuel economy and emissions in the auto industry.

Current greenhouse gas regulations, which went into effect shortly before President Donald Trump took office, require automakers to roughly double fuel economy to more than 50 miles per gallon. The EPA says that standard would be replaced by one developed in conjunction with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The agency also plans to reexamine a waiver that allows California to set stricter standards than those which are

24 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

federally mandated. California has a special legal status which allows it to set tougher standards than the federal level, and the state has vowed to defend this right in court. Thirteen other states — mostly in the Northeast and Northwest —where air quality is an issue, adopted the California rules. These states account for nearly 40 percent of U.S. car and truck sales.

The current standard for new cars and trucks is 163 grams of carbon dioxide per mile by 2025, which means that a car should be able to get 54.5 miles per gallon of gas, according to the EPA. The reasons for adjusting the standard include gas prices and consumer acceptance of advanced technology vehicles, according to the EPA. Many think the EPA will eventually substantially reduce the targets for greenhouse gas regulation for lightduty vehicles and will also lower the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) targets. Manufacturers, states, non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders will have the

Right now, the customer is not buying electrified products, they are not buying hybrids, mainly for a couple of reasons. One is the cost of those products…But the other reason is range and infrastructure.

—Carla Bailo, president and CEO of the Center for Automotive Research

The Ronald Reagan building in Washintgon, DC., headquarters of the Environmental Protection Agency

GREENHOUSE GAS AND FUEL EFFICIENCY STANDARDS FOR HEAVY-DUTY TRUCKS

opportunity to provide input into the rulemaking process in the coming months.

Industry observers say the upcoming rulemaking will likely be controversial and fraught with legal obstacles before new fuel economy and emissions standards are determined.

But a central theme in discussions about the EPA’s action is the need for a single national set of rules that would make it easier and less costly to meet complex targets, which vary depending on the size of vehicles and whether they are classified as cars or trucks.

Automakers also want to avoid a patchwork of rules that would add costs to engine manufacturing and find ways to both increase fuel economy and keep new vehicles affordable to more Americans.

“The best way to achieve our collective goals is under a single national program that provides an aggressive but achievable pathway, a variety of compliance tools, and factors in the role of customers,” John Bozzella, president and chief executive officer of the Association of Global Automakers said in a statement on the organization’s website.

Auto suppliers were cautiously optimistic about the creation of a national fuel efficiency plan. Steve Handschuh, head of the Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Association, said online that while his group supports adjustments and flexibilities, “We do not support significant changes to the standards. Anything that falls short of a national program with an aligned set of standards will fail to provide the long-term planning certainty suppliers need to make the long-term business and technology investment decisions to meet the MYs 2022–2025 standards and beyond.”

Carla Bailo, president and CEO of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan, says, “Definitely, to have one national standard would be a huge help in terms of complexity and development cost.”

But Bailo says there are other factors to be considered in the emission and mileage debate.

“Embedded in most of the current plans to get to 2025 is a significant number of hybrids and true electrical vehicles and some of those pure electric vehicles are being made here, some are being imported and some are a hodgepodge of those,” Bailo says.

Bailo says if the current EPA regulations are rescinded, “it gives the opportunity for all the automakers to re-check their future plans and to pull back some of their plans for electrification. However, on a global level they are still going to need to have those electrified products available in an equivalent timeframe, so each manufacturer has their own global sourcing footprint.”

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 25

I N D US T R Y

O U TLO O K

electronically, the weight of those harnesses has become huge and it just keeps getting larger. So all of that has to be offset.

“You have to meet the customer’s expectations that way and when it comes to electrification or fully battery-electric vehicles, clearly the less weight you can have in that product the better it will perform in terms of range,” she says.

Automakers are facing the challenge of meeting consumer demand and changing fuel economy standards

There will be certain plants that will be impacted in terms of either having more demand or less demand depending on what their future plans were. But in general, car makers try to shift and balance that sourcing footprint for the least amount of disruption to their manufacturing plant. —Carla Bailo She says the “impact to the manufacturing community, I would venture to guess, will not be significant.

There will be certain plants that will be impacted in terms of either having more demand or less demand depending on what their future plans were. But in general, car makers try to shift and balance that sourcing footprint for the least amount of disruption to their manufacturing plant.”

CUSTOMER CONCERNS The EPA, in announcing its official decision to reverse the rules, said current standards were too expensive for automakers to meet and would ultimately hurt car owners by making vehicles costlier. The agency said that low oil prices meant savings at the pump would be less than forecast and alluded to concerns that expensive fuel-saving technology could come at the cost of investments in auto safety.

“In terms of customer buying habits, that’s where it is going to impact,” Bailo says. “Right now, the customer is not buying electrified products, they are not buying hybrids, mainly for a couple of reasons. One is the cost of those products, although day after day the cost of electrification goes down as we are able to get more energy out of our cell pack. But the other reason is range and infrastructure,” she says, citing the lack of charging stations nationally.

26 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

“In those communities where it does exist – Seattle, Portland the Bay area - that is where you are seeing the proliferation of electric vehicles.”

But Bailo says, electric vehicles with long ranges “are not in the economic pocketbook of the average person.

“So the customer’s behavior has been changed, and what we saw the last time the fuel prices escalated was when the fuel price got to be round $4.50 to $5, that’s when we began to see a significant shift. “ In addition, Bailo says, “Most people don’t drive like the EPA -certified procedure but it is a standard that all the automakers have to meet. So a 54.5 means about a 37 overall in a real life fuel economy figure. And that is collectively, the entire group that that automaker is selling, the whole portfolio.

“People get excited about 54.5 but when you think about 37, that doesn’t sound totally egregious.”

Customer expectations don’t change, Bailo says. “With every new model they expect to have higher fuel economy and they expect to have better performance with a downsized engine. You can do that with a number of levers -- and light-weighting is a very important one -- so when you think about all the electrification going on and you put all the sensors for safety on the vehicle, the backup sensors, everything that is required for that vehicle to communicate

FUEL CHANGES Not to be overlooked in the upcoming discussion on emissions and mileages is the role that biodegradable fuels might soon play, and the EPA said it continues to receive interest in making ethanol a part of future standards.

“Ethanol producers and agricultural organizations commented in support of high-octane blends from clean sources as a way to enable GHG-reducing technologies such as higher compression ratio engines,” the agency said, including the availability of E30 at the pump.

In addition, the EPA indicated in its announcement, that automakers support the move to high-octane fuels.

“The Alliance and Global Automakers commented that higheroctane gasoline enables opportunities for use of more energy-efficient technologies (e.g., higher compression ratio engines, improved turbocharging, optimized engine combustion),” the agency said, “and that manufacturers would support a transition to higher-octane gasoline, but do not advocate any sole pathway for producing increased octane.” n

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 27

PROCESS

MASTERS OF MAINTENANCE Although it’s a discipline some overlook, manufacturers in the automotive sector are finding that it pays to stay on top of it TEXT BY: GAIL ALLYN SHORT

W

ith precision, speed and efficiency, manufacturing plants can roll out hundreds of cars and supplies in a single shift. But mechanical breakdowns can slow the assembly process down and waste time and resources, too.

Workers’ success at keeping plant machinery humming affects their ability to reach productivity goals, reduce waste, keep fellow workers safe and ship products to their customers on time.

A reactive approach, repairing machines after they break, can be inefficient for factories using lean manufacturing production because constant machine availability is critical.

Therefore, more factories today are turning to maintenance management professionals to help prevent breakdowns and losses and even

28 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

spot defects long before machine failure occurs.

Maintenance management will be the focus when OEM and automotive supplier professionals converge at the second Alabama Automotive Manufacturers Association (AAMA) Maintenance Management Symposium, June 7 at the Bryant Conference Center at the University of Alabama (UA) campus in Tuscaloosa. The symposium will examine maintenance management methodologies and keys for building a maintenance and reliability workforce.

“Maintenance and reliability is becoming a very important part of manufacturing,” says Leroy Hurt, associate dean of continuing studies at UA, which co-hosts the symposium.

AAMA President Ron Davis says that maintenance management processes

at OEM assembly plants are critical because the machinery operators use to produce vehicles and parts are more complex today than ever.

In fact, advances in computer technology, network communication, machine and robotic automation, sensors and other electrical devices require sophisticated processes.

Moreover, these computerized machines and technologies require technicians with the relevant digital skills and knowledge to repair and maintain them.

“If you don’t properly maintain the systems in your plant, you’ll have increased costs due to equipment downtime,” says Davis. “You’ll have problems with the quality of your products, and you’ll end up having downtime that impacts your customers with cost, quality and delivery…

“And, if you get bad parts coming in, that can cause difficulties as well,” says Davis. “So, there are many different pieces of the system, and they all have to be managed effectively. The goal is to be predictive and preventative and identify problems before they occur.”

The question is, how can manufacturers improve at keeping their advanced machinery consistently in top form to keep assembly lines moving?

A PATH TO PERFECTION Symposium speaker Scott Russo is offering insight into that question.

Russo, a maintenance and engineering manager for Huntsville-based Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Alabama (TMMAL) Inc., and a 25-year industry veteran, has spent the last nine years in maintenance management.

He says Toyota has a “Zero Breakdown Management” policy supported by the “Three Pillars of Maintenance”: prevention, prediction and action. With zero breakdowns as a goal, team members strive for 100 percent machine availability in the plant.

“When downtime occurs, it results in working overtime to make up for the production loss, which, in turn, affects cost,” Russo says.

“Toyota’s maintenance journey is based on continuous improvement of our maintenance management,” says Russo. “In the past… when something broke, we fixed it. But Zero Breakdown Management has helped us become a preventive- and predictivebased organization.”

TMMAL has 120 maintenance team members, says Russo. And while team member training has been key in achieving targets, the use of manual and real-time monitoring devices such as ultrasonic vibration, grease analysis, oil analysis, thermal scanning and other specialized tools have aided them in diagnosing and even predicting problems with machinery.

“Our first goal is to prevent a failure,” he says. “But, if we cannot prevent a part from failing, then we try to predict

Experiential learning for Maintenance Symposium participants presented by Mercedes and Eruditio.

Reasons for unplanned downtime can be complicated and greatly impact our operations. When downtime occurs, it results in working overtime to make up for the production loss, which, in turn, affects cost. — Scott Russo of TMMAL when it will fail and change it out before it does. We do this during planned, nonproduction times.”

Russo says Zero Breakdown Management also promotes another goal: to have zero safety incidents in the plant.

“The system is focused on the process side of our business,” says Russo. “Toyota’s core belief is that if you follow the correct processes, the results will follow.

“The roots of this system are embedded in Toyota’s Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) activities,” says Russo. “The practices were developed into a standard by our Global Engine Line Promotion department in Japan in 2008.”

TPM is a concept that the Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance – an organization that promotes plant safety, reliable production and maintenance – first put forward 47 years ago.

Under the TPM approach, operators have the power to be proactive in helping maintain equipment. The idea is to ensure that all machines in the assembly plant remain reliable and productive without slowdowns or stoppages due to machine defects.

THE SEARCH FOR KNOWLEDGE “Maintenance management is an important field,” says Hurt, “and it is a discipline that often doesn’t get recognized.”

Nonetheless, Hurt says enrollment is growing in UA’s certificate program in maintenance management, which teaches management, predictive maintenance programs and methodologies, inventory and spare parts management and budgeting.

“It [the certificate program] is one of the reasons we started thinking about doing the symposium,” says Hurt, “and hopefully, we can identify some other programming that is related to maintenance and create momentum to make the university a central place for maintenance reliability so that it is known for providing the training in the field.”

Meanwhile, Russo says the symposium is a good thing for the industry. “When knowledge is shared, good results happen,” says Russo. “We all face common challenges. Learning from one another helps everyone continue to improve, and that is one of the foundations that Toyota is based on.”

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 29

BUILT BY DESIGN

GENERAL MOTORS BRINGS EFFICIENCY, EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES TO ARLINGTON

New logistics center raises quality by minimizing proximity and cutting cost TEXT BY: LAWRENCE ELIZABETH KNOX / PHOTOS COURTESY: BOB MOORE CONSTRUCTION, INC./ WWW.GENERALCONTRACTOR.CO

F

or years, Arlington’s first enclosed shopping center, which opened in 1970, was nearly vacant – an outdated ghost town except for a few stragglers, such as a retail outlet, a movie theater and a cheap pretzel joint.

Unable to compete with newer and bigger retail plazas, the defunct Six Flags Mall, named after the nearby theme park, was ultimately demolished in the summer of 2016, clearing the way for a new industrial space – a 1.25

30 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

million-square-foot supplier park featuring two side-by-side, multi-tenant warehouse buildings.

The Arlington Logistics Center was strategically placed at Division Street and State Highway 360 to accommodate the General Motors assembly plant located only one mile down the road.

The existing plant, which opened in 1954, employs approximately 4,225 people to manufacture the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, the GMC Yukon and Yukon

XL, and the Cadillac Escalade. The additional park will bring greater job opportunities to the city, engaging a crew of up to 1,250 personnel. Roughly 850 of these positions are new to the city, and approximately 600 of them will replace labor that was formerly accomplished

by GM suppliers abroad before being shipped to the states.

The groundbreaking for the redevelopment project, which was managed by NorthPoint Development

We were able to recycle a lot of materials. We crushed some of the concrete from the old building, and we used that as pavement base.

—Larry Lapinski, vice president of development, NorthPoint Development

and built by Bob Moore Construction, was celebrated in June of 2017.

Operations, including a wide range of activities from manufacturing and assembly to warehousing, sequencing and logistics, are set to open in early 2019.

“The introduction of supplier parks and logistics centers creates improved logistics, efficiencies and coordination,” said Nick Richards, GM’s product development, purchasing and supply chain communications manager. Moving various types of auto part suppliers on site reduces the distance that the equipment must travel to the plant, and this proximity not only lowers costs and increases productivity, but it also better maintains or even improves the quality of

the materials.

With these advancements in its strategy, GM has been able to cut their logistics costs by more than $1 billion over the last five years, according to Richards. Continuously progressive analytical tools help the corporation to understand any economic changes and to subsequently meet new industry standards. Specifically relating to the plant, however, they aid in selecting the prime location for the company’s supplier network, and therefore improve relations between GM and its collaborators.

One such partner is International Automotive Components (IAC), which has had a relationship with GM since the

1920s and will establish operations at the new facility as one more location among its 22 other U.S. plants. The leading global supplier will construct nearly the entire interior of each vehicle, including but not limited to the center console, the complete cockpit, door panels, overhead systems, hard trims, the flooring and acoustics. The resulting manufactured parts will then be delivered in sequence to the neighboring assembly plant.

In designing the park, NorthPoint Development kept a few green concepts in mind. The real estate development, management and leasing company based in Kansas City practically razed the land in order to begin fresh, although not completely anew. “We were able to recycle a lot of materials,” says Larry Lapinski, vice president of development.

“We crushed some of the concrete from the old building, and we used that as pavement base.”

NorthPoint didn’t face any unusual complications during the process, aside from the typical day-to-day challenges that come with any construction project, Lapinski says. The layout and design is really that of a standard warehouse distribution center with certain access points that optimize the flow in and out of the facility. This is done by way of cross docking, Richards explained, a practice in which materials are unloaded from incoming semi-trailer trucks and loaded onto departing trucks with minimal storage in between.

The real uniqueness of the project, however, lies in its nearness to the assembly plant, Lapinski says, and although the concept is fairly new, the Arlington site is not the first to utilize the system of localizing its resources.

In fact, the Arlington Logistics Center JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 31

B U I LT

BY

D E S IGN This artist’s rendering show the layout and landscape around the Arlington Logistics Center which is scheduled to be up and running by early next year

marks the fifth supplier park for which NorthPoint has joined forces with GM. The other existing parks are located in Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana and Missouri, the latter being the first to be announced in November of 2016.

Since then, the overall strategy has proved beneficial for GM and its suppliers in more ways than one.

Besides the lowered costs, the concept of buffering inventory is leaner, meaning the facility is able to keep just enough supplies on hand to maintain a smooth operation. There is neither an insufficient nor an excessive amount of inventory, the latter being a liability because of the ever-present potential for a shift in demand. Not to mention that the clutter would require additional storage space, and excess inventory ties up money that might otherwise be used for settling more urgent concerns.

With the park being an extension of the plant, there is faster turnaround and greater strategic flexibility. In other words, the auto company will be more apt to quickly alter its course of action in

The introduction of supplier parks and logistics centers creates improved logistics, efficiencies and coordination.

— Nick Richards, GM’s product development, purchasing and supply chain communications manager

32 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

order to respond to fluctuations in the external environment and in doing so, will maintain a healthier business.

Another major objective to this operation is to diminish the amount of outsourcing from other countries.

Although GM will not publicize data detailing the number of parts that previously came from outside of the United States or where they were manufactured, business columnist Mitchell Schnurman with the Dallas News reported last May that the corporation’s production spreads into Mexico and Canada.

The less transportation involved greatly contributes to the reduced costs and also leads to higher quality communication throughout the Arlington operation.

All in all, GM says, consolidation of suppliers at the facility will continue to

improve how the company approaches its products.

GM is one of the largest employers in Arlington – a city of about 400,000 people – and across North Texas, employing about 9,000 staff statewide.

“Since 1954, the men and women of Arlington have produced more than 11 million cars, trucks and SUVs,” Richards says.

Although Arlington Mayor Jeff Williams was not available for comment, he has previously spoken very highly of the longstanding relationship between the city and the multinational corporation. In fact, he credits the opening of the assembly plant as being one of the pivotal factors that ignited the city’s population and economic growth.

“General Motors has been a part of the American Dream in Arlington from the beginning,” he said last June, according to GM’s website. “And now, more than 60 years later, GM continues to be a critical foundation of Arlington’s economy. I am pleased the city council has once again successfully worked with General Motors, this time to revitalize and redevelop an area that was a deteriorating shopping center and turn it into a vibrant manufacturing site.

This action will have an impact on our community for generations to come.” n

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 33

WORKF ORC E DE VE LOP M E N T

FUTURE MAKERS

The South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance has found a new approach to workforce development resonates with students, companies and educators TEXT BY: NICK PATTERSON

I

t seems obvious that for any industry — say the Southern automotive manufacturing sector — to thrive it needs both business and the people to work in it.

Still, companies are facing the challenge of finding enough qualified people to keep growing and expanding, making workforce development a constant concern. South Carolina’s efforts have taken the state down a path that many have not found so obvious.

It’s called SC Future Makers, and it involves bringing young people, educators and manufacturing companies together in virtual space in a way that has put thousands of potential employees into the orbit of carmakers, among others.

How many thousands? How about more than 60,000? That’s how many high school students in South Carolina are currently participating in SC Future Makers, says James Richter, director of Workforce Development for the South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance, and the administrator of the Future Makers program.

34 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

The program involves students and companies creating online profiles which let them learn about each other.

And the whole idea arises from the question, “what’s next?”

“We’ve had tremendous economic growth, lots of investments coming into the state, and what we found was that there was going to be quite a retirement boom soon, and in order to keep up with the needs of these new investments that were coming in, we needed to do something,” Richter says. Just showing off the goods manufactured in the state wasn’t enough to attract the requisite number of workers.

“We’re always missing the ‘what’s next’ part,” Richter says, “and so what we ended up doing was forming a partnership with the STEM Premier Platform - it’s a program that basically allows kids to create profiles. And so what that allows us to do is to do something very unique, which is essentially go into schools, engage students, and then from there we can stay in touch with them and then align

them with the opportunities. So if we go and do a plant tour and we find kids who are interested in certain directions - such as automotive manufacturing or whatever it may be - these profiles allow us a means to essentially set up a recruiting mechanism for them to connect to the next opportunity, whether that’s directly into the employment or through a technical college for additional training.”

Building a profile could be compared to something students as a rule are familiar with - creating an online identity in a social media context. “We wanted to do something where we empower the students to create their own personal brand, but at the same time be able to get seen based off their skills and talents,” Richter says.

Future Makers also allows companies to display their own profiles in a sense, he says, and a pipeline for making a pitch to a group of students

What we ended up doing was forming a partnership with the STEM Premier Platform… What that allows us to do is to do something very unique, which is essentially go into schools, engage students, and then from there we can stay in touch with them and then align them with the opportunities.

—James Richter, director of

Workforce Development for the South Carolina Manufacturers

who might one day become employees.

“The first thing we want companies to be able to do is to showcase themselves – to talk about why they’re a great place to work…so to talk about their culture,” he says.

That opens up the opportunity to connect students to either job openings or apprenticeships; students can send their profiles to companies they’re interested in. Or “companies can purchase a subscription through the STEM Premier Platform – that’s a little bit separate from us – where they get full access and can view the student’s profiles and actually communicate with them,” Richter says. “But what we start with is essentially let’s get the company’s structured to where they can showcase all the opportunities that are out there.”

Future Makers began in 2016 with the idea of approaching students in 100 of South Carolina’s 280 high schools.

“We were able to, the first year, I believe, get up to about 103 schools,” Richter recalls. “And then the second year in our partnership with the state of South Carolina they said, ‘Hey, let’s go into another 100.’ So it’s gradually trying to increase it to where each year we continue to build upon the population.”

There have been unexpected benefits, resulting in connecting students to the educational programs needed to get the jobs they want. “One of the things that I saw of value after our first year was the fact that after we were able to get into the 100 schools, that college systems said, ‘Oh, wow! There’s a whole population out there that we now have the means to communicate with in an organized way.’ And so what it was really exciting about is …all the tech colleges now have access to recruit students,” Richter says.

Another benefit: the program helps school guidance counselors who are trying to help get students exposed to career opportunities. “It’s kind of interesting – they’ve been very welcoming anytime that we want to bring businesses in,” Richter says.

“One of the things we’re very focused

SC Future Makers allows students to create online profiles they can share with potential employers; this page walks them through the steps

on is when I work with a guidance counselor or someone like that, what I’ve found is so many of them are trying to do outreach on their own to local businesses – maybe to get them to come and speak at an event or to set up a tour, or that kind of thing.

And so it’s a lot of cold calling. So really what’s been great is developing those connections and at the same time making it a little easier for them to make these connections to these industry folks that they may not know personally, to try and get some sort of involvement.

“And so the bottom line,” Richter says, “is the schools in the state of South Carolina that we’ve worked with, they’ve been great because I think what they’re really looking for is whatever it takes to try and help make the connection for students to future

economic opportunities.”

Currently, most of the students involved with Future Makers are juniors and seniors — the ones most likely to enter the job market soon — but the program is open to all high school students.

Future Makers is giving students and manufacturers a way to connect, but it’s also giving parents a look at an alternative to four years of college.

“I think the student loan debt component is starting to finally resonate with parents because I hear so many of them say, ‘You know what, if this leads to an opportunity where you’re not strapped with debt for the next ten years and living on my couch, this is definitely worth pursuing,’ Richter says. “There’s definitely an interesting level of respect and reception of the message that these are good opportunities.” n JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 35

BE S T P RAC T I C E S

A U T O M O T I V E S E C U R I T Y: Recommendations For Security And Privacy In The Era Of The Next-Generation Car

The age of the internet-connected car means that keeping vehicles, information and occupants safe will require a holistic look at systems under the hood and in the cloud INTRODUCTION: NICK PATTERSON /TEXT AND GRAPHICS BY: MCAFEE

C

ybersecurity is now a mobile concern, and not just for your laptop. As automotive manufacturers make smarter and smarter cars, the complexity and interconnectivity of the vehicle and the systems that support it raise questions about data security, vulnerability to electronic intrusion and safety.

McAfee, a company best known for providing security software for computers, is also a part of an effort to stay on top of evolving cybersecurity issues in advanced automotive manufacturing. A recent white paper the company prepared, addresses the threats, vulnerabilities and potential solutions in behalf of the Automotive Security Review Board (ASRB).

“This paper is intended as an

36 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

informative backgrounder and starting point for continued discussion and collaboration,” as noted at the beginning of the white paper. “The primary goal is to present the current state of automotive security, the main concerns, some use cases, and potential solutions. This is by no means an exhaustive review. This is the second version, incorporating comments from a variety of automotive and security researchers.”

As part of our look at best practices in the automotive industry, we excerpt the McAfee report. To see the full report, visit mcafee.com/us/resources/whitepapers/wp-automotive-security.pdf.

EXCERPTS FROM THE REPORT “Remember to lock your car” is no

longer sufficient advice to protect your vehicle. United States Senator Edward Markey’s Tracking & Hacking report on gaps in automotive security and privacy, as well as successful recent attacks on car computer systems from different manufacturers, are just two reminders of the increased threat to vehicle safety.

Computer attacks are now a clear and present danger for car drivers, owners, dealers, manufacturers, and suppliers.

Increased automation, vehicle-tovehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications, and advances in autonomous driving add computer security and data privacy to reliability and safety as cornerstones for consumer confidence and continued success in the automotive industry.

The ASRB will conduct research

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 37

BE ST

P R AC T I C E S

Ecosystem And Infrastructure Of The Next-Generation Car

and collaborate on ways to improve automotive security products and technology, bringing together top security industry talent from around the world. ASRB researchers will perform security tests and audits intended to codify best practices and design recommendations for advanced cybersecurity solutions and products to benefit the automobile industry and drivers.

Computers have made significant contributions to vehicle safety, value, and functionality—from stability control to electronic fuel injection, navigation, and theft prevention.

They have also increased connectivity, adding many functions common to smartphones, such as cellular data and voice functionality, web browsers, online games, and entertainment. But increases in use of shared information and in-vehicle communication have made cars vulnerable to cyberattacks.

Each electronic control unit (ECU) and the increasing array of sensors they work with must be secured in some shape or form, whether it is via cooperating or co-processors, code verification, protection of data at rest and in transit, or other capabilities that have become common in Internet 38 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

security. With vehicles already connecting beyond the bumper, the risk has increased, and the core challenges will be establishing and maintaining trust, consumer confidence, and vehicle safety.

INNOVATION IN NEXTGENERATION CARS By advancing network connectivity in cars, the industry has enabled innovative functions, some of which are already available. These new functions are often referred to as “cyberphysical” features, since almost all of them require collecting data from the physical environment and cybersystems, making automotive operation decisions, and executing on such decisions with physical consequences. Some of these innovations include: Advanced driver assistant systems (ADAS): Smart lighting control, adaptive cruise control, collision avoidance, driver fatigue detection, lane departure warning, and parking assist Advanced fleet management: Usage and behavior monitoring, warranty restrictions by zone, real-time telematics, and package tracking Smart transportation: Traffic congestion, vehicle sharing, and fuel

efficiency are influencing existing operating modes and creating new ones.

Vehicle-to-infrastructure and vehicle-tovehicle communications, such as smart intersections, traffic light control, road trains, and traffic management, are key contributors to smart city operations.

Autonomous driving: The ultimate goal of the next generation of vehicles is that driverless cars become a reality to achieve zero fatalities and/or collisions, improved traffic flow, and other benefits, with early examples already visible from Daimler, Ford, Google, Tesla, and others.

Automotive innovation is driving the need for built-in security solutions and architectural design to mitigate emerging threats. The goal for automotive security products is to ensure that the new vehicle paradigm is protected and can operate to its full potential, even in a malicious operating environment.

AUTOMOTIVE SECURITY: PRIVACY RISKS AND VULNERABILITIES Whenever something new connects to the Internet, it is exposed to the full force of malicious activity. When something as complex as a modern car or truck is connected, assessing the scope of threats is an immense job, and an attack surface may be left unprotected unintentionally. Many security risks now extend to vehicles—malware, Trojans, buffer overflow exploits, and privilege escalation. Let’s look at a few use cases to illustrate potential threats, describe the attackers, and explore general approaches to mitigation.

With cars incorporating up to 100 ECUs, they are approaching the upper boundaries of the wiring harness, which is one reason the industry is moving towards greater integration and virtualization, reducing the total number of ECUs but increasing the number of functions and complexity of the software. The resulting attack surface is broad, touching most invehicle systems and an increasingly wide range of external networks, from Wi-Fi, cellular networks, and the Internet

to service garages, toll roads, drivethrough windows, gas stations, and a rapidly growing list of automotive and aftermarket applications.

Security for complex systems like these is a collaborative effort, requiring a holistic approach, with the involvement and contribution of the supply chain and the broader ecosystem. Effective security cannot be achieved by dealing with individual components, threats, or attack points. Unlike traditional computer systems, initiation and consequences in both the cyberworld and the physical world are possible over vehicle attack surfaces, making it more challenging to protect the vehicle’s systems.

As pointed out by Miller and Valasek, the success of hacking cars depends on three major categories: remote attack surfaces, cyberphysical features, and in-vehicle network architectures.

They identified more than seven major categories of remote attack surfaces, based on their study of 20 recent models (2014 to 2015) from multiple different car manufacturers. Some, such as the CAN bus and on-board diagnostics, are designed to be robust and readily available; you just have to open the hood and connect to read what is there.

Furthermore, the more advanced systems features a car has, the more potential attack vectors.

There are many open questions in this field. In the future, cars may not get a “Check Security” light or “Hack Test Rating.” An “Update Software” light may well be a future reality. …

Best practices for automotive security are an evolution and amalgamation of both product safety and computer security. Together, the goals of trusted vehicles, secure cars, and a confident user experience are achievable.

McAfee® is part of a large and vibrant ecosystem delivering components to the automotive industry, including hardware, software, and security processes from chip to cloud and from design to driveway. A key player in the evolution of Internet security, McAfee is a long-established participant in security, standards, and threat mitigation. n JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 39

NATIONAL CORVETTE MUSEUM BASH Corvette owners rejoice in their cars, and in each other’s company, at Bowling Green TEXT BY: DAVID GREEN / PHOTOS COURTESY OF: NATIONAL CORVETTE MUSEUM

t’s chilly, overcast and occasionally raining on Thursday, April 26, in the rolling green hills of south central Kentucky. But nothing dampens the enthusiasm of the thousands of folks on hand at the National Corvette Museum for the annual Michelin NCM Bash.

The Bash, a three-day extravaganza, is a celebration of everything about the Corvette. Corvette is many things but primarily the original — and, some maintain - the only American sports car.

NCM, which opened in 1994, operates as a nonprofit and is supported by a network of members and numerous Corvette clubs. It is about a quarter-mile southeast of the GM Bowling Green Assembly Plant, which opened in 1981 and is where all Corvettes are built.

Each year the Bash features the official rollout of the coming year’s edition of the iconic machine. This year, the 2019 ZR1 and Stingray models were on display. Two 40 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

new exterior colors, Elkhart Lake Blue and Shadow Gray, were revealed.

Since there was no 1983 model, that makes the 2019 Vette the 66th edition.

But for all Corvette’s magical and enduring appeal, for all its performance capabilities, for all its gee-whiz aura, many Bash attendees insist that the car is only part of the magic and mystique of the car.

“It’s the people,” says one Vette owner, Dave Heineman, a 70-year-old retired electrical contractor from south-central Illinois. “The Corvette brings us together. We make friends all over the country.”

Teresa Hart, a lifetime member of the museum and a volunteer worker who moved to Bowling Green from California, echoes that sentiment.

“We all say you buy the Corvette for the car, but you stay with it because of the people,” she says. “You get a family.”

We all say you buy the Corvette for the car, but you stay with it because of the people. You get a family.

— Teresa Hart, National Corvette Museum volunteer

Like motorcycle enthusiasts, Corvette drivers often acknowledge each other with a wave.

“Most of us still do the wave as we pass each other on the highway,” Hart says.

It’s a very cool car indeed that draws all these folks together.

“Corvette’s the American toy,” says J.W. Burton of Lynchburg, Virginia, who bought his first Corvette in 1960 and has since owned a number of them: “I think it’s about 10, I’m not positive” he says.

Fanbase Interestingly, the museum is not a property of General Motors. It was established by enthusiasts, with no GM support, in 1994. But NCM and all its programs are great assets to the company.

“I think it’s great, when you think about it, that the museum was started by Corvette enthusiasts on their own,” says Harlan Charles, Corvette Product marketing manager for Chevrolet. “That says a lot about Corvette and its following.”

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 41

S P OT LI GH T

NCM events give GM an opportunity to connect in a special way with customers and potential customers.

“They can get up close to the new model, they can give us information as to what they like and don’t like,” Charles says. “I think the customers like that, too.

Where else can they get inside and talk to the people who make the car?”

Katie Ellison, marketing and communications manager for NCM, notes that at the 2017 Bash, a poll was taken to get feedback on such questions as, would you be interested in a green Corvette, or an orange one?

Museum events also attract new buyers such as Joe Kenda, the veteran detective featured in the Investigation Discovery television program Homicide Hunter; or singer John Oates, who bought one after he did some filming for a television series pilot last year, Ellison notes.

Ellison says that corporate GM and the museum have always have a strong relationship.

The separate-but-closely-related relationship has another benefit, Charles points out.

“It’s a way to let the enthusiasts still be in charge of the museum and run these special programs,” he says. “And customers really love them. It’s the ultimate fantasy camp for a car guy.”

Charles compares the complex comprised of the Bowling Green Assembly Plant, National Corvette

Museum and NCM Motorsports Park to another iconic automobile’s home.

“The analogy is Ferrari in Italy,” he says. “At Maranello, they have the factory where they build the cars, the museum, the test track” at nearby Modena.

Vette Pilgrims The Bash is a pilgrimage for Corvette owners of all descriptions who come from all over the continent to take part in a full agenda of activities on and off the museum campus, such as road trips to locations such as Rockcastle Shooting Center, part of the Mammoth Cave complex. Other popular attractions include O.Z. Tyler Distillery, up the road a piece near Owensboro, and Old

They can get up close to the new model, they can give us information as to what they like and don’t. I think the customers like that, too. Where else can they get inside and talk to the people who make the car?

– Harlan Charles, Chevrolet Corvette Product Marketing Manager Besides the NCM Bash, the museum regularly draws crowds of aficionados to marvel at the Corvette’s enduring legacy

42 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

The massive NCM complex is just a short distance away from the factory where all Corvettes are built making Bowling Green ground zero for the popular sports car

Friends Thoroughbred Retirement Center in nearby Simpson County.

“Shifting and Shooting” at Rockcastle features various firearmrelated activities for fun or in competition for a trophy.

O.Z. Tyler offers a taste of some Kentucky whiskey that’s way out west in comparison to the Bourbon Trail in the east-central part of the state.

At Old Friends, Corvette enthusiasts can get a sample of horsepower in its original singular form at the first retirement home for thoroughbreds to be located at a racetrack – Kentucky Downs, in Franklin.

Plus, there are opportunities to buy a book about Corvettes and get the author to sign it – Larry Herrin (Building the Dream: History of the Bowling Green Corvette Plant), Wil Cooksey (No Time to Cry, about the author’s years as manager at the Corvette Assembly Plant) and Kevin MacKay (Corvette Hunter).

Additional activities run the gamut from driving your Corvette or hot-lapping in go-karts at the NCM Motorsports Park, across Interstate 65 from the museum; watching as technicians disassemble and then reassemble an LT4 engine; listening to speakers on subjects from race-prepping your Corvette, to changes now being made in the Corvette Assembly Plant, Corvette racing, and so forth.

There are seminars on the technology of the new Vettes, on the tires of event sponsor Michelin and an “under the hood” presentation by representatives of ExxonMobil.

There is the Ladies’ Garage, presented by the women engineers of General Motors, and a Ladies’ Oasis for those who do count themselves among the gearheads in the Corvette family, but are still very much a part of it.

There’s “Ask the Experts,” a walkup question-and-answer opportunity;

20th anniversary banquet for Corvette Racing; and a concert at SKyPAC (South Kentucky Performing Arts Center, in Bowling Green) by the Marshall Tucker Band.

“The Boulevard” – Corvette Boulevard, inside the main entrance, resembles a small-town main street, with the Corvette Café at the end. For the Bash, the Boulevard is crowded with displays set up by some 18 vendors and partners of the museum. Products and services range from Titan Lifts and C*Magic wax and other appearancecare items, to Corvette-themed and other automotive artworks, to Spring Mountain Motor Resort and Country Club, which provides Cadillac and Corvette driving schools under direction of champion driver Ron Fellows.

At the Ladies’ Oasis, there are another 20 to 25 vendors.

At the beginning of the Boulevard, on the left, sits a yellow C6, an actual JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 43

S P OT LI GH T

With the GM Corvette Assembly plant nearby, the connection between factory and owners is particularly close

car that has been modified into a racing simulator. Visitors can take the driver’s seat and, looking at three large video monitors in front and feeling the sensations of accelerating, braking and cornering, get a sense of what it feels like to drive a Vette at high speed.

Shrine, memorial, landmark Centerpiece of the NCM is the yellow Skydome with its red spire, rising some 13 stories high and clearly marking the spot to travelers on Interstate 65. Its arching walls are adorned with portraits of Corvette Hall of Fame members such as charter members Ed Cole, Zora Arkus-Duntov, Harley Earl, Bill Mitchell, Joe Pike and Larry Shinoda.

On the floor, underneath the shining dome, are a number of Vettes of historic value or racing pedigree.

The Skydome, which houses select historic Corvette race cars and other models, was in the news for a frightening reason on Feb. 12, 2014, when the ground caved in under the Skydome floor, which 44 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

collapsed and sent eight rare Corvettes on display tumbling some 20-plus feet into a gaping sinkhole.

The Skydome reopened Sept. 3, 2015, with the eight victims on display, two of them restored and the others in various states of damage or destruction.

The floor of the rebuilt Skydome features an outline tracing the portion of the floor that gave way in the collapse, and another outline of the underlying cave system that caused the collapse.

But all those things aside, it’s the shared experience among people who love the cars that makes the event and the Corvette family special.

For this year’s Bash, 1,448 owners registered to attend. Another 1,403 museum visitors pushed the numbers to 3,000 people who gathered for the threeday celebration.

Their Corvettes crowded the parking areas surrounding the museum and around the city. Anything else seemed out of place.

At random motel parking lots and

in the museum parking areas, Vette owners were out early, hosing off their cars, hand-drying the gleaming finishes, administering final touches to interior wipe-downs, as if they were prepping for a car show.

Which, of course, they were. n

FAST FACTS: Corvette Museum • The National Corvette Museum attracted 228,744 visitors in 2017, the third consecutive year of increased attendance. The NCM Motorsports Park reported 60,840 visitors.

• NCM is open seven days a week, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (admission closes at 4:30), except for New Year’s Day, Easter, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day • Tickets: $10 for adults, $5 for children 5-12, FREE for age 4 and under, $8 for seniors (62+) Source: NCM website, corvettemuseum.org

Not every sports car owner gets such intimate knowledge of his machine, but Corvette buyers can pay for the privilege

HANDS-ON PARTICIPATION: THE ENGINE BUILD EXPERIENCE

T

here are plenty of restored Corvettes, customized Corvettes, Corvettes converted to racing machines, and so forth.

Many of those cars have been built, rebuilt, or otherwise modified, by their owners.

Chevrolet offers buyers of new Corvettes the opportunity to actually participate in the building of their brand-new car, through the Engine Build Experience.

Buyers who selected this $5,000 option get to spend a day at the Performance Build Center in the Bowling Green Assembly Plant where they, with a professional assembly technician, put together the engine that will go into the customer’s Z06 or Z71 Corvette.

“There is no mechanical expertise requirement or prerequisite,” according to engine assembly tech Bryan Lee. “We adjust the experience to the individual customer.”

Customers may make adjustments of

their own, he adds.

“We have some customers who want to watch, listen, and learn as our builder assembles their engine, but we also have customers that want to do 100 percent of the assembly with our builder guiding them through the process. We basically let them decide for themselves,” Lee says.

Regardless, Lee notes, “An experienced builder accompanies the customer step-by-step throughout the entire process. The Build Your Own Engine option is here to provide the best experience possible, and we will work with all of our customers in order to make it an unforgettable one.”

Lee says customers of all stripes participate in the program.

“Typically, our customers come from a strong Corvette fan base,” he says.

“Many own several Corvettes of various generations and models. However, there are days we come across customers that are buying their very first Corvette.

“Throughout this program, we’ve seen celebrities, fathers and sons, spouses, brothers, Corvette clubs, et cetera. Each experience is special and unique in its own way.”

It literally starts with a bare block, Lee explains. “Our blocks come in completely machined,” he says. “The first steps are to install the cam and the crank into the block.”

Step by step, the process continues.

Parts, tools and all ancillary materials are delivered to each work station.

The customer arrives at 5:45 a.m. for a

continental breakfast, safety presentation and the first of many camera shots that will capture the experience for posterity.

The build begins at 6:30.

After a break for lunch at 11:45, work resumes at 1:30 to complete the assembly. The engine is cold tested, and after a completion ceremony, the newly built engine is moved into staging for its place in the assembly line, and the customer departs.

But the program doesn’t end there.

“The experience is not only gratifying for the customer,” he says. “It also creates a bond that our customers and builders share for the rest of their lives.

Often times, they become close friends and remain in contact long after the build experience.”

Customers stay in contact, exchange information, and there are examples on the website forum where a builder has a group of customers with whom he has worked, who all feel that they share a bond.

Some customers who also take the Museum Delivery option invite their engine builder to be a part of the ceremony, Lee says. “They meet up at events such as the Bash, or at anniversaries,” he says. “Sometimes they give gifts of appreciation.”

A personalized plaque and poster identifies the customer who performed the build. The customer receives a piston trophy and a polo and cap.

NOTE: The Engine Build Experience option is not offered while the Bowling Green Assembly Plant remains shut down for retooling.

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 45

Supplier Profile

From Switzerland to SC

Stäubli makes its mark in the auto industry with innovations in weaving machines, connectors and robotics TEXT BY: LINDA H. LAMB / PHOTOS COURTESEY OF: STÄUBLI

T

he Stäubli Group, which started as a manufacturer of textile machinery, has woven quite a history for itself.

Its founders couldn’t have predicted that the company’s weaving machines, connector systems and industrial robotics would eventually make inroads into virtually every aspect of automotive production. After all, Stäubli was founded in Switzerland in 1892, when Henry Ford’s first assembly line was still years away.

Yet, says Roger Varin, CEO of Stäubli North America, the Duncan, S.C-based company has a knack for looking forward.

“After 125 years, we’re a steady, growing company,” he says. “There’s a very long-term way of looking at business. We are looking 10 years ahead, five years ahead, all the time.”

Stäubli offers mechatronics in 29 countries, serving a diverse array of

46 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

industries. Varin looks ahead, seeing an operation particularly well-positioned to handle the evolving needs of automotive manufacturing in the Southeast and beyond.

Drawn to South Carolina in the 1950s – when textile manufacturers still supplied the warp and weft of many Southern communities – Stäubli has been engaged in the state’s pivot to other industries, particularly automotive. The Upstate facility incorporated in 1979 with five employees. By 1992, the Duncan plant employed about 20 people in 30,000-square-feet.

As manufacturers like BMW came in, Stäubli grew, too: About 170 people now work in a 100,000-square-foot facility that’s set to expand again this year.

“Our main divisions all have automotive applications,” Varin says, citing some examples: Quick mold change systems: South Carolina manufactures equipment for

the entire North American market, focusing on solutions that reduce time and boost productivity in plastic injection molding. This includes a clamping system using magnets that can hold 1,400 pounds each.

Connectors and couplings: Several engine makers use Stäubli couplings in engine testing machines (as do aeronautics manufacturers). Fun fact: “Formula 1 racecars have 40 Stäubli couplings in each car,” Varin says. The company is a leader in multi-coupling technology, which lets components connect and disconnect in ways that minimize wear and tear.

Textile weaving: Stäubli still supplies machinery that makes fabric for curtains, carpets, sofas, socks and blue jeans, as well as car upholstery, and most of the airbags made in the U.S., Varin says.

Robotics: With a full line of robots, Stäubli supplies specific assembly applications for Tier 1, 2 and 3 suppliers

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 47

S U P P LI ER

P R O F I LE

to the major OEMS. “Our robots are there to put things together that then go in the car,” Varin says. For example, they help assemble brake systems, electronic sensors, headlights and dashboards.

Tool changers for robots: These systems cut costs and time for manufacturers, including BMW. A robot can switch efficiently between a welding task and a glue gun task, for example.

SOUTHERN ROOTS, EUROPEAN EXPERIENCE Varin, 63, has been with Stäubli for 25 years, starting as its CFO. “I got this job mainly because I speak French and I understand the European way of life, the European way of working,” Varin says.

However, he grew up in Greenville, South Carolina After he graduated from the University of South Carolina, where he majored in finance, Varin lived in Europe for several years, starting work in Geneva for professional service company KPMG. That’s where he learned French.

Eventually, he came home to South Carolina in 1983 to be chief financial officer for a plastics company. The CFO offer from Stäubli came in 1992, and in 2014, he became CEO. Varin’s European exposure has served him well, supplying common experiences and cultural touchpoints with European colleagues. He also developed an appreciation for Stäubli’s rich history: privately held, familyowned, staying in business through two world wars, moving into North America, China, India, Turkey, Russia and Southeast Asia, among other places.

48 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

In a 2017 interview with the CFO Thought Leader podcast, Varin was asked how a finance guy transitioned into a leadership role for a manufacturing company.

Varin said that even when his focus was on finance, he enjoyed learning nuts-and-bolts manufacturing from his industrial clients. He would talk not just to financial people but to engineers and project managers. Now, as a CEO, he interacts with employees at all levels.

POSITIONED FOR THE FUTURE Stäubli is a complex company, with $1.3 billion in sales worldwide. While its machines are at work in industries ranging from railways to data servers to solar energy, Varin believes a number of Stäubli innovations will be increasingly useful to automotive.

One example: machines for weaving carbon fiber, currently more common in the aeronautics industry.

“What we see coming down the road is carbon weaving for the automotive industry,” Varin says.

Very strong but lightweight, carbon fiber fabrics could be especially useful in the manufacture of electric cars, he notes. That’s important global trend is also impacting South Carolina, where newcomer Volvo Cars has pledged to build only hybrid and electric cars at its

new Lowcountry plant starting in 2019.

Varin believes Stäubli also is wellpositioned to supply robots for working on electric car components. “All the big electric car companies are our customers,” he says.

Stäubli acquired pioneering robotics company Unimation in 1989. That forward-looking decision has paid off in a big way. Stäubli’s robotics line includes standard four- and six-axis models, a specialized line designed for use in sensitive environments such as high humidity or sterilized environments.

Then there is the TX2.

Stäubli describes the TX2 line as a generation of “collaborative robots.”

Varin points to specialized safety features that allow for closer contact between worker and machine. It reduces its operational speed as its human “coworker” gets closer, and shuts down if the person gets too close.

“The point here is to have man and machine working together,” Varin says. “What we see in the future is this collaboration, man working with machine. We have the safest collaborative robot on the market.”

Varin does not see more robotics as a development that will cost automotive industry jobs.

“Automation does a lot of things,” he says. “It improves productivity, reduces errors, makes for a safer workplace – all of which makes for a good return on investment. Automation hasn’t hurt job growth so far. We feel like robots improve the operation of the company and… can help keep companies here in the States.” n

There’s a very long-term way of looking at business. We are looking 10 years ahead, five years ahead, all the time. —Roger Varin, CEO of Stäubli North America

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 49

Supplier Profile

VASCOR Brings Integrated Logistics to the Automotive Sector The Georgetown, Kentucky- based company is at the top of the automotive supply chain, with its comprehensive inbound and finished vehicle services.

TEXT BY: JESSICA ARMSTRONG / PHOTOS COURTESEY OF: VASCOR

B

ringing goods to market is becoming increasingly complicated and automotive supply chains are among the most complex. Cars and trucks are intricate consumer products that consist of thousands of interrelated parts originating from numerous suppliers.

So, it’s no surprise that the automotive supply chain demands top-notch logistics planning.

One company that’s up to the task is Georgetown, Kentucky-based VASCOR Ltd., which provides third-party logistics services for the automotive industry.

VASCOR navigates the many links in the chain that take finished vehicles from assembly plants to their final destinations such as the dealership lot.

VASCOR – an acronym for Value Added Service Corporation – provides third-party logistics (3PL) to major clients in such industries as automotive OEMs, automotive Tier I, automotive aftermarket, industrial and manufacturing and distribution.

The company offers full spectrum inbound and finished vehicle services,

50 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

and maintains large operations centered on manufacturing plants.

Inbound parts logistics includes logistics network optimization and design, transportation management, supplier management, along with specialized trailer design and some crossdock operations management in which materials are unloaded off incoming semi-trailer trucks or railroad cars and loaded directly into outbound vehicles with little or no storage in between.

Finished vehicle logistics provided by VASCOR include plant releasing, yard management and accessorizing stored vehicles (such as changing a mud-flap or adding a radio), vehicle transportation management, vehicle inspections and supply chain data analysis.

Additionally, finished services involve in-transit repair management, claims management and protective coating application. Eighty to ninety percent of the work is finished vehicles related at VASCOR’s 109 locations, which are primarily in North America.

Finished services involve doing “everything from the plant to the

dealership,” notes Lee Jones, VASCOR’s vice president of customer development and marketing.

Jones says Toyota has more than 1,000 parts suppliers, which calls for sophisticated route optimization: “We are running across America picking up parts with a 15-30 minute time limit on delivery.”

The company is split 50/50 between its inbound side and finished vehicle side, Jones adds. VASCOR’s annual turnover is $235 million.

VASCOR exclusively serves the automotive industry and has since its inception in 1987. VASCOR was founded about the same time Toyota established Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. in Georgetown, its largest vehicle manufacturing plant in the world with the annual capacity of producing 550,000 vehicles and more than 600,000 engines.

“Toyota needed a logistics company and it was our only customer for the first 10 years of our existence,” Jones says.

“Toyota is still our largest customer.”

Along with Toyota, customers today include General Motors, Ford Motor

Company, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Mercedes-Benz Canada, along with Toyota Logistics Services, Hino, Auto Parts Manufacturing Mississippi and North American Lighting.

VASCOR has also taken the lead in automotive logistics in India through APL Logistics VASCOR Automotive Ltd., a joint venture based in New Delhi that provides a variety of specialized solutions to OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers.

Its rail-based solution ensures efficient distribution of finished vehicles across India. Jones says VASCOR saw a “big opportunity” in India to purchase and build finished vehicle railcars and now has nearly 400 railcars and transporting cars throughout the nation.

Despite VASCOR’s wide reach, the company maintains a strong local presence in Georgetown. Jack Conner, director of Scott County United in Georgetown, calls VASCOR “a strong supporter of downtown development, business development and entrepreneurship.”

Seventy people are employed at the Georgetown headquarters. Also in Georgetown is VASCOR Transport, the company’s asset division which operates in Louisville as well as Georgetown.

About 125 workers at two VASCOR Transport locations handle dedicated truckload freight. VASCOR Transport is expanding by adding new terminals in the Midwest in order to increase the company’s trucking operation.

“VASCOR is a significant contributor to two of Kentucky’s key industries – automotive and distribution/logistics,” notes Jack Mazurak, communications

director for the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development.

Clearly, VASCOR excels at these two crucial industries as evidenced by the steady stream of awards and recognitions the company has received over the years.

This year the Union Pacific Railroad honored VASCOR with its first Kaizen Award, which recognizes VASCOR’s focus on continuous improvement processes including problem identification, root cause analysis, countermeasure implementation and measurable results.

Furthermore, VASCOR is focused on building proprietary IT systems, and in 2017 Automotive Supply Chain Magazine gave VASCOR its Service Excellence Award for work in developing a mobile application for the company’s finished vehicle division.

“We won the award on the finished vehicle side with a mobile app for our employees to use in real time when processing vehicles through the supply chain,” Jones explains. “In addition, customers can see the status of where the vehicles are at various stages in the supply chain. Every year, VASCOR makes substantial investments in technology.”

Tony Uphoff – president and CEO of Thomas, an online platform for supplier discovery and product sourcing in the United States and Canada – agrees that companies like VASCOR must make technological advances in order to maintain a competitive edge.

“We are seeing the convergence of physical and digital supply chains and this is most acute in dynamic marketplaces like the automotive industry, says Uphoff. “We are also seeing advanced technologies like augmented reality, robotics/cobotics and artificial intelligence driving dramatic increases in logistics efficiency and manufacturing

Toyota needed a logistics company and it was our only customer for the first 10 years of our existence.

Toyota is still our largest customer.

—Lee Jones, VASCOR’s vice president of customer development and marketing

speed in the complex world of automotive production.”

These changes are putting under pressure the classic demand-driven logistics philosophy that has served the automotive industry well for the past 20 years, he adds.

Uphoff says Tier I and Tier II suppliers may soon engage in artificial intelligence to identify and predict demand signals upstream to car manufacturers, which will make predictive analytics and logistics optimization a continuous process.

Other factors are contributing to changes in the automotive industry’s chain management systems. According to the report “Automotive Supply Chain and Logistics 2018” by Research and Markets – a leading source for international market research and data – with the introduction of electric vehicles and autonomous systems almost imminent, the impact on supply chain management and logistics will be profound.

“If autonomous vehicles hit it big and there is more ride-sharing, that will cause new car production to go way down if we get to the point where people stop buying cars or multiple cars,” predicts Jones, who believes new car production should stay strong for the next two to three years.

“The utilization rate on a vehicle is about 4 percent, so only 4 percent of the time a car is being used. One of the movements in finished vehicles asks, ‘How do we get that rate up?’ On the finished vehicle side, everyone is talking about mobility - anything that it takes to get people from Point A to Point B. On the finished side, we need to add more services in mobility.”

Mobility becomes increasingly important for a number of reasons, one being keeping the aging population mobile.

“Looking at VASCOR, how does an automotive logistics company fit into this mobility mindset?” Jones asks. “All companies in automotive and logistics need to look at what the future holds and what we need to do to keep these concepts moving forward.” n JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 51

Supplier Profile

Making way for “Pokémon for Industry” Optiware aptly named to optimize software and increase production TEXT BY: CARA D. CLARK / PHOTOS COURTESEY OF: OPTIWARE

W

hen software optimization giant API Maintenance acquired Axxos of Sweden in November 2016, it was only a matter of time before the resulting synergy of software lines needed a standout identity.

CEO Michael Ries and other key leaders kept it simple and straightforward with the new moniker, Optiware, which speaks to the form and function of software lines API Pro and Axxos OEE. “We provide optimization software – and the new name tells you just that,” says Ries, who has been part of the company for 18 years, rising from a position of sales and marketing director to serve as CEO since 2002 With a U.S. facility in Atlanta, Georgia, among its 13 offices in nine counties, Optiware has a name global

industries can easily line up in their portfolio of partners.

“We bring together people, competencies and history from two successful companies with 25 plus years’ experience,” Ries says. The name change is part of the master plan to step up the company’s game in terms of marketing and branding so that the Optiware offerings stand-out in a competitive field.

API Pro brings expertise to Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) systems and Axxos specializes in Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE). API Pro is a maintenance management system that manages assets, improves reliability and availability. The Axxos OEE handles production monitoring and optimization.

The combined assets of Optiware, have services and technologies that

We’re in the fourth industrial revolution, a confluence of trends and technologies reshaping industry through the Internet of Things. This interconnection of devices and components means our machinery starts communicating about the status and maintenance needs [of the equipment].

52 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

support the global super trend, Industry 4.0, a confluence of trends and technologies reshaping production by merging the worlds of production and network connectivity in the Internet of Things (IoT).

The term is now part of the lexicon that has developed around industry.

Industry 4.0 is seen as an advancement from 18th century mechanical production, powered by steam and water in what Ries terms Industry 1.0, through mass production assembly lines in the 19th century (2.0), automated production in the 20th century (3.0) and the new millennium (4.0) of intelligent production incorporated with IoT, cloud technology and big data.

This next-level approach to optimization has been embraced by automotive companies like Toyota, Volvo, and Honda as well as household brands like GE and Adidas. In fact, Optiware OEE is being rolled out globally to all Volvo factories and is being used by customers in more than 1,000 plants in more than 50 countries worldwide. It is

available in 23 languages.

Optiware creates value for clients with the ability to monitor and optimize more than 10,000 machines, managing and optimizing stock caches with millions of spare parts and issuing millions of work orders for maintenance.

The Industrial IoT is allowing machines which are manufacturing anything from auto parts to tennis shoes to trouble shoot problems and share best practices.

With expectations for upwards of $9 billion per year to be invested in the digital technologies of Industry 4.0, Optiware seems to be timely to market.

API Pro and Axxos OEE offer lock down mobility, big data analytics and cloud services. The next phase is augmented reality and having machines learn so that they can integrate predictive maintenance in their purview, Ries says.

That’s the Optiware Augmented Reality, a live view of a physical environment whose elements are enhanced by computer generated input such as maintenance job orders, calibration information or OEE figures.

“Our vision is to be the preferred platform for optimizing asset production to the global industry,” Ries says. “We want to deliver technologies and services for optimizing productivity, compliance and drive customers’ transformation to Industry 4.0.”

With expertise in production optimization, Optiware has a foundation of high-tech software solutions that bring true value to the industry in a customer-centric way, Ries says.

“Our perspective is Industry 4.0 and digitalization is second nature to us - and with our combined offering (EAM and OEE) we are uniquely positioned to help customers optimize both asset reliability

and effectiveness – and to gain an edge,” Ries says.

Optiware emphasizes state-of-the-art functionality, visibility and mobility as prerequisites for catering to customers’ needs. That and that the company’s breadth of understanding, experience and forward-thinking is what Ries says makes the difference.

“We have two solutions that go handin-hand, each completing the other, and now the two fit to optimize industry,” Ries said. “We have a deep understanding of manufacturing, and we try to focus our business on global companies with multiple plants in several co∆66 untries and several languages. Many of our competitors are more local. We have a different approach and a different fit with international companies and compete against a company like IBM.” It’s not just automotive OEMS, but suppliers like Leoni, AGC, DENSO, SKF and Komatsu.

“We’re in the fourth industrial revolution, a confluence of trends and technologies reshaping industry through the Internet of Things,” Ries says.

“This interconnection of devices and components means our machinery starts communicating about the status and maintenance needs [of the equipment].

“What we are working on is augmented reality. It’s like Pokémon for industry and machine learning.

Through data analytics, at [an]even earlier stage we can predict what will happen. In the old days, we talked

Optiware has 1,000 live customers in 50+ Countries

Northern Europe

444

North orth America

31

Western Europe

259

At Optiware, we are born global and industrial.

It is in our DNA to be close to our customers and flexibility characterizes our work as well as our software.

about what to do to avoid maintenance problems. If you’re able to foresee what will happen, you can fix it sooner.”

From optimizing asset productivity to predicting and thereby avoiding problems, Optiware, as Ries sees it, has made the leap to Industry 4.0 look as simple as the popular cartoon video game, Pokémon.

“It’s very simple, Ries said. “You want to avoid unplanned stops in industry.

You have a serious problem if you have an unplanned stop in the automotive industry. We have the solution and have an extremely fast and streamlined installation process that even allows us to install remotely. Today with cloud computing and remote access, you don’t have to be there.”

Ries explains that Optiware has a direct impact on productivity, and as a result, on the competitiveness of its customers. That’s a relationship that requires trust, meaning customers want a company that is accessible, responsive and as straightforward as its new name.

“It will be an interesting thing to see how fast we can get customers up and start modernizing technology to optimize industry,” Ries says, adding that, “At the end, it’s all about money.

“If we can increase the production of manufacturing company by five percent, any CEO will get dollar signs in his eyes. Five percent is a lot. Just by installing our system, it will increase productivity because the staff knows productivity is being measured.” n

Eastern Europe

38

Southern Europe

China

16

Middle East

Northern Africa

2

21

44 Asia

53 Africa

1

South America

16

South Africa

2

Austrailia New Zealand

3

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 53

Faces of the Industry We want to make cars, we want to change communities, we want to change the complexion of our state. And we know that that begins in large part with employers like us; with corporations like us. comes through whether she’s talking about her community service work, her outreach efforts for Nissan Canton — she’s the director of Community and Public Relations for the car manufacturer one of the biggest employers in the state — or whether she’s talking about how overcoming a childhood of neglect and abuse propels her to encourage others who need it as she did.

Building up Communities

With a smile Pam Confer represents Nissan and gives of herself to strengthen Canton, Mississippi TEXT BY: NICK PATTERSON / PHOTOS COURTESEY OF: PAM CONFER

Y

ou might think that holding down a significant position at Nissan might be enough for anybody, but for Pam Confer, it’s just a beginning.

She’s a jazz singer. She’s a motivational speaker. She’s a writer and book editor. She’s an award-winning clay shooter. She’s the president of the Canton, Mississippi Chamber of Commerce.

But don’t tell her she’s spread too thin.

“I just…I guess, spread like peanut butter…you never run out,” she says, laughing.

Confer’s sense of humor, and her boldness, and her sense of responsibility

54 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

SERVING CANTON It’s all about service for Confer, who is focused on “spurring economic development,” in Canton,, which she says with pride, has the only town square within 200 miles. “It’s just such a beautiful little town,” one which needs development, and has a school system she describes as “suffering or aspiring to be better,” she says.

Canton is “impoverished, but the citizens there are hungry for more; for prosperity, for wealth and for attention so that they can show their light as much as possible,” she notes.

A big part of luring business to town revolves around the school system, she says, making it a key to economic development.

“So, we’re just uplifting them and we’re in the schools consistently, letting the kids know, or the students know, and teachers, principals, staff – everyone know – that we’re all in this together.

And so we want the whole town to get a passing grade, not just the district. I mean, that’s really what shows our pride.”

Confer is also a big believer in encouraging visitors to explore what makes Canton unique.“You know, this is where Martin Luther King marched, that’s where James Meredith had the big rally there that kind of brought 20,000 people eventually on the campus of Tougaloo College, which is in Jackson, because when James Meredith got shot it ended up being ...a big huge thing in the 60s,” she says, adding that from a history that includes athletes and entertainers to the southeast’s largest flea market, Canton has much to offer.

“So we’re just trying to make sure the people know that we have a light and we want to give them reasons to come to Canton, because once they come they’ll fall in love with it,” she says.

During her one year term, Confer has ambitious plans for the chamber bylaws and policies to work on, training to arrange for the executive director, finding as many ways as possible to leverage her experience in economic and community development, public relations, environmental management, minority contracts and more, for the benefit of the town.

CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP Confer’s work at Nissan also brings her into close contact with the community, representing the company at various events and in conversations with stakeholders. “That’s explaining how Nissan works, that’s talking about our products, our people, our processes; talking about community; talking about how we build the character of our employees; and just having that Mississippi touch because Mississippi is so different than any other place … that it just requires a lot more intimate and emotional connection to the constituents,” she says.

“The greatest part of my job is being in the community and working with constituents, and that’s a small church of twelve people, fifteen people, you know, to some big event where there’s 15,000 people, or 1,500 people – it just doesn’t matter. Its just…people are amazing, and especially Mississippians, you know.

They’re so deserving and wonderful.

“And they need to know that the second largest private employer in the state certainly wants to make money, because that’s what I hear a lot, but also we want to make cars, we want to change communities, we want to change the complexion of our state. And we know that that begins in large part with employers like us; with corporations like us. And so we take that very seriously.”

FINDING HER VOICE A big part of Pam Confer’s

background involves growing up in what she describes as a dysfunctional home, where she became convinced that she was neither attractive nor smart. She had no self confidence. Hard to believe when you see her beaming smile, but she never used to - smile. She didn’t even realize that it was special to have the talent she is now known for - to sing, she says.

“I sang because my family sings,” she says. “You’ll find that with a lot of people who sing - that’s just what they do, but it’s not really tied to their confidence. It’s just what they do.”

Singing may not have been tied to her confidence, but it was very much an outgrowth of her upbringing, “My family sings on my mother’s side, so everybody sings – like literally – so there are twelve siblings, including my mom on her side. And so our reunions growing up were always like the Mississippi Mass Choir. … Really didn’t realize that a lot of other people did not do that. I mean, you know, you get older and you really realize the significance of talent and what a gift it is.”

In college - and how she got there is a story only Pam Confer can tell - is where she really began to blossom. Her grades, always anemic in high school while living at home, turned to a 4.0 her first semester at Lane College.

From there she won scholarships and academic contests and beauty pageants.

“That’s where I found my confidence in my aptitude and in my promise and in my intellect, not in my physical being,” she says. “And so that’s why when I do motivational speaking, I just continue to talk about that because beauty has nothing to do with your exterior. It has everything to do with your soul and the beauty of your soul, and your attributes and the just natural ability to connect to people. That’s what’s beautiful. And if on the exterior…if that’s wonderful, too, then that’s beautiful, right?”

In the years since college, she’s won accolades as a speaker, a singer, and a member of the community.

Having found her own selfconfidence, Confer is determined to

What Makes Mississippians Different?

No surprise that Pam Confer loves Mississippi. She and her Jazz Beautiful band have recorded a song/album called Mississippi Beautiful, which is featured in the “Where Do We Go from Here” Gallery of Mississippi’s new Civil Rights Museum.

And if you ask her, the Nissan executive has strong feelings about what makes the people in her state great.

“You know, I think Mississippians have had just centuries and centuries of turning stumbling blocks into staircases,” she says.

“We’re, you know, a bunch of hardworking people that figure out a way, and we’re tough, and we have these thick scabs that are impermeable that history has provided us in such a strange way. help others find it in themselves, whether young children from difficult home lives, business groups, government agencies, women’s organizations, or even whole communities. “I have to live a life of service because I was given this opportunity to do that, and so I must live a life of service,” she says. “It’s destiny’s directive for me.” n JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 55

Faces of the Industry

From Design Architect To System Architect Katherine James built a successful career at IFS, a software company that impacts automotive in surprising ways TEXT BY: AUTUMN PRIVETT / PHOTOS COURTESY OF: IFS

S

tudying architecture might not seem like the most obvious path to take for a career in software sales.

But for Katherine James, vice president of sales at Industrial and Financial Systems (IFS), starting with a bachelor’s degree in architecture was the right step.

“I have that right-brain/left-brain stuff going on, so it’s not hard for me to go from one to the other.… Doing the engineering side and the creative side was of high interest to me,” says James of her decision to study architecture. This choice has served her well. In the last 20 years of her career, she has worked for top software companies such as Infor, PROS Pricing, Aptean, and Core Security.

As a student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, James took a class where she had to create 3D models of large

56 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

manufacturing buildings. It was this interaction that sparked her interest in the technology side of the business. “I migrated over to the technology side [of architecture] … and worked with a lot of companies that did big projects,” she says. “I learned manufacturing from the inside out by designing plants.”

In her current role as VP of sales, she uses that insider knowledge to help companies along the eastern seaboard see the value of well-structured technology solutions in running large, complex processes. Her main responsibility is to help sales teams get net new business, which she admits is not for everyone. But she has thrived in the environment.

Most IFS customers are involved with manufacturing in some way. This

allows IFS to provide highly-specialized software solutions that are designed to meet specific industry challenges. And for IFS, this attention to detail is part of their history. “IFS actually started with enterprise asset management for the nuclear power industry,” James says.

“They had to keep a nuclear reactor up and going, and of course you can’t mess up, so it had to be flawless.”

Because users can track and manage each step of the production process with one system, they can switch between tasks seamlessly—something that is especially valuable in the automotive industry, where accurately managing moving parts and fluctuating material prices is critical. “Everything is all in one product,” James says. “So there is no problem with data handoffs and feeding one back to the other.” Not only does this make day-to-day management easier, but it also leads to faster, simpler, and easier implementations.

AUTOMOTIVE INFLUENCE The software IFS offers for companies in the automotive industry falls into three main categories: a specialized ERP that accommodates

I have that right-brain/ left-brain stuff going on, so it’s not hard for me to go from one to the other. … Doing the engineering side and the creative side was of high interest to me.

automotive industry specific mandates, enterprise asset management for equipment and servicing, and field service management to help manage technicians working at other facilities.

While IFS has a growing number of small to mid-sized automotive customers, a majority of their users are upper mid-market sized companies and large corporations such as General Dynamics. But a wide range of consumer vehicles and parts are built using IFS software systems, including Toyota and BMW passenger vehicles, double-decker London buses, electronic key fobs, and windshields.

Automotive suppliers and manufacturers across the region face new challenges in the form of increased government regulations. From tax breaks that encourage creating more U.S. based jobs to rising tariffs on steel and metals, companies have an ever increasing number of variables to monitor.

James sees new technological advancements helping businesses of all sizes weather these changes. “We can do ‘what-if’ scenarios within our product, so you don’t have to program things in.

It’s already available,” she says. For the automotive industry, this means that if the price of steel changes tomorrow, auto manufacturers can forecast how that will affect prices three to six months into the future.

Even though software like this can help companies run more efficiently and profitably, companies are often hesitant to switch to these new systems because of the seemingly overwhelming cost of implementation. But James did not see these barriers to adoption when she first saw what the IFS software could do.

“When I really started looking at it—I call it looking under the hood—the product was highly configurable, but it could do so much out of the box and you didn’t need a programmer to do it.”

James has seen drastic changes in technology adoption over the course of her career and acknowledges that the way software is implemented has greatly improved adoption rates. But she finds a lot of companies are still

running software that requires them to use multiple platforms to perform simple tasks or old-school interfaces.

The biggest change for most companies, she says, is the time they expect it to take to implement the software. “If well-designed software is put in place, you can get your time to value so much faster and start using that product right away … instead of spending years and years doing implementation and that’s where it’s changed the most.” She hopes that this ease of use will lead to more companies making the change to more flexible, efficient software systems.

Because of the boom in the technology and automotive sectors in the region, and in Georgia in particular, there will be more opportunities than ever for those looking to enter the industry.

James, who is based in Atlanta, said that those who are looking to launch a career in technology sales, especially in the automotive industry, need to take advantage of internships and try to pinpoint early on what area they want to specialize in.

As reflected in her own experience, James notes that becoming a part the software sales industry is not as simple as checking a box when enrolling in college.

She advises aspiring software sales representatives to narrow down on an area of interest for internships and other

learning opportunities. By becoming experts in areas such as automotive or oil and gas while they are still in school, these students will be more successful once they enter the job market.

A PERSONAL CAUSE When she’s not on the road helping companies become more efficient, James puts her organizational and leadership skills to use at an annual fundraiser for her county’s first responders. Local restaurants donate food for a big picnic and the local fire stations bring bucket trucks and engines so kids can get a up-close look. Even though she believes it’s very important to give back to her community, her desire to support local first responders has deeper, more personal significance.

James happened to be flying from Atlanta to Boston on September 11, 2001, right after the terrorist attacks.

“I was actually in the air and flew over the Twin Towers right after the second plane hit, but before the collapse,” she recalled. After that experience, she actively looked for ways to support the people who are first to arrive on the scene when tragic events happen. “I had a personal interest in what I could do to help, not only the community, but also to keep that memory in front of people so they don’t forget.” n

Key fobs and windshields use IFS software systems, which works with Toyota and BMW passenger vehicles and double-decker London buses, among others.

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 57

Faces of the Industry

Catalytic Converter

AAMA’s leader takes on the challenges and fun of a lifelong trek through the automotive industry TEXT BY: CARA D. CLARK / PHOTOS BY: CHRISTINE PRICHARD

R

on Davis has a cool ride. The head of the Alabama Automotive Manufacturer’s Association favors the classics, and his personal labor of love is a ’57 Chevy pickup, restored from the frame up and finished with a hunter green body and high-style, white-painted bumpers. He didn’t buy it that way, which says a lot about Davis and his lifelong love of the internal combustion engine.

“Every bolt was taken off that truck, and every part was redone,” Davis says.

“It’s a totally restored pristine Chevy.

There’s no heat, no air conditioner — it was probably meant to be a farm truck in rural Alabama, but it’s such a pleasure to drive with the vents and windows open and the air flowing through.”

With a three-speed on the column, the antique is even more hip today than when it rolled off the factory floor.

58 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

Naturally, it collects admirers when Davis takes it for a spin. And you can tell the self-proclaimed “car guy” is the real deal because he has two other timeless treasures, a 1962 Chevy Impala, his first car when he turned 16, and his father’s 1967 Chevy pickup, which holds a host of fond memories. Davis keeps them in immaculate condition, a fitting representation of his dedication to the world of automotive.

Because his father worked at a General Motors plant, Davis was exposed to the industry while growing up in Indiana and even before he was building model cars and tinkering with go-carts.

He frequented family open house events and was fascinated with the inside view of factory operations. With his interest piqued, as soon as he was old enough, Davis took advantage of an opportunity

to become a co-op student with GM, working in product design.

At the time, he thought his calling was to become a draftsman, but through the leadership of the plant’s chief draftsman, Davis saw an even more appealing avenue in engineering work.

“GM provided me with an opportunity to spend a week doing nothing but spending time with engineers and understanding what they do,” Davis says.

If ever there was a doubt of his intended profession, that role sealed the deal, cementing a lifetime fascination with all things automotive: “Cars are an example of craftsmanship and technology and the freedom to go where you want to go,” Davis says.

He enrolled in Purdue University in mechanical engineering and continued

his co-op work with GM so that when he graduated, he had the degree, work experience and training he needed to achieve his goals.

“That has been of tremendous value to me and has been my whole career,” Davis says. “It helped me grow as a person and professionally.

I went to work for GM in advanced engineering, designing products for future GM vehicles.”

The creativity demanded in that role propelled him into a 20-year career with GM, during which he kept on the cusp of change. In 1994, he became a part of Delco Remy America in Meridian, Mississippi, where he led the Power Metal Forge Division and rose in the ranks to become vice president and general manager.

“It was a significantly new challenge,” Davis says. “I had no experience in powder metal technology. I walked into an area in serious trouble and in need of whole new technology. It was a fun challenge, but a tough one, as well.”

Eventually, the Power Metal Forge Division became a separate entity and was sold.

“It was an opportunity to look at other career opportunities, and I chose to go back to General Motors and chose to lead a factory that was very important in the future of the industry,” Davis says. “I was able to immerse myself in implementing lean manufacturing best practices in a General Motors plant. I knew that experience would help me the rest of my career in the automotive industry. It shaped me, as I was developing new skills and getting a closer connection to issues of the shop floor. It helped me grow as a leader in the automotive industry.”

With that two-year experience, Davis was ready for a new challenge.

He joined Federal Mogul Holdings Corp, running the heavy-duty piston plant in Orangeburg, South Carolina, where he was able to focus on enhancing the facility functions and essential relationships.

“It was an exciting opportunity to improve the performance of the operations and to improve the

relationship between the union and management in the facility,” Davis says.

By establishing a strong relationship with the employees and a solid foundation with the union, Davis was able to bring the two segments together to make significant improvements to the performance of the Federal Mogul plant.

When the company made plans to move its operations to Mexico, Davis was too partial to the Southeast to leave.

Instead he accepted an invitation to move to ZF Lemforder in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where he settled in to manage their axel assembly plant for 10 years.

While he faced the challenges in launching new programs that exist in all automotive companies, Davis describes it as an experience of greats: from company to plant to people to city.

“I entered into a plant that had great products and great people,” Davis says. “That led us to win the 2008 Shingo Prize for Lean Manufacturing Excellence for significant improvements in the operation.”

After 10 years, Davis retired from ZF to join the University of Alabama as executive director of the Alabama Entrepreneur Institute. His auto industry experience translated well, making for a smooth transition to cranking up new businesses. Most notably, he gave a boost to the start-up of Fayette Fabrication, which manufactures automotive shipping racks in Fayette, Ala. “I’m very proud to have been part of the team that helped start up Fayette Fabrication,” Davis says. “It has been rewarding to see it grow from ground zero to 85 employees today. Alabama needed more strength in building shipping racks for the automotive industry, and we accomplished that.”

Davis also was involved in the Alabama Automotive Manufacturing Association from the ground floor. While with ZF, he began working with the association in various capacities, quickly rising to membership on the board of directors where he served as president and vice president. As automotive in the state began to boom, it was evident AAMA needed a full time executive to run

I knew that experience would help me the rest of my career in the automotive industry. It shaped me, as I was developing new skills and getting a closer connection to issues of the shop floor. It helped me grow as a leader in the automotive industry. the organization. Davis was tapped to lead the organization, becoming paid president and chairman of the board in 2014.

“The growth in the automotive industry in Alabama exceeded my expectations in a very exciting way,” Davis says. “Alabama is already a true leader in automotive with proven ability to perform. We can’t define our limit.

My objective is to support the industry.

We want to do the things we have on the table very well and prove that we can continue to perform with excellence.

It takes hard work, and we have the strong, capable workforce, as well as partnership in industry and the state, to make all of that happen. One of the things that makes Alabama so great for new business is that from counties and cities to the governor’s office, we see strong support.”

Davis says the pieces fall into place as auto manufacturers see others already prospering in Alabama. He feels confident the performance of Toyota plants played a major role in Mazda choosing Alabama for its plant.

Davis also sees automotive as protecting the future environmentally and creating ever-growing opportunities for young people in a state fast becoming known for its accomplishments in the arena.

“As I reflect on my career working in the automotive industry, it has been a great experience,” Davis says. “It has given me an opportunity for personal and professional growth. I highly recommend young people in Alabama to experience the automotive industry. It’s great for the state of Alabama, and the strength of our workforce is a key topic right now.” n JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 59

EXPERT VIEW

Ten Years of Guiding Principles

Global Auto Industry Unites on Sustainability Guidance for Suppliers TEXT BY: TANYA BOLDEN

I

n an extraordinary alignment between automakers, the Automotive Industry Guiding Principles to Enhance Sustainability Performance in the Supply Chain emerged from an industry-wide, recognized need to speak with a unified voice on the importance of a sustainable, ethical supply chain.

The guidelines were first developed by the not-for-profit Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) in 2009, in collaboration with Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, Honda, and Toyota.

The industry’s willingness to work together to attain the highest standard in business integrity and in the social and environmental performance of its supply chain illustrates the importance automakers place on people and the environment. The guidelines clearly describe the automakers’ expectations for suppliers in business ethics, working conditions, human rights, and environmental performance. The expectation is that suppliers will uphold these standards and cascade them down their supply chain.

60 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

EXPANSION OF GUIDING PRINCIPLES AND NEW RESOURCES The recently updated Guiding Principles includes new and expanded content to provide guidance to suppliers on the latest industry expectations. This amended document is accompanied by a new supplementary resource, Global Automotive Sustainability Practical Guidance, which provides further explanations and examples of actions organizations can take to engage in best practices regarding people and the environment. This added resource also addresses the practicalities and legalities of meeting industry expectations.

Updates include new expectations since the first publishing of the Guiding Principles in 2014. In one example under Business Ethics, new guidelines state that companies are expected to responsibly source raw materials and minimize the risk of counterfeit or diverted parts and materials in their products. The importance of transparency in quality reports, financial reports, and filings is emphasized,

as well as the need for companies to disclose financial and non-financial information, according to regulations and industry practices. A final bullet point explains that companies need to establish processes so that employee concerns can be raised anonymously, without fear of retaliation.

Certain areas have also been reworked and expanded upon in the Environment section. Additions include a statement on air quality, which stipulates that companies must work to monitor and eliminate emissions contributing to air pollution, as well as a note on managing chemicals responsibly to minimize or eliminate restricted substances.

The Practical Guidance supplement also addresses the creation of a safe and healthy working environment, which is one of the fundamental values included in the Guiding Principles. Companies are encouraged to educate employees on emergency and evacuation procedures, and the need for personal protective equipment and machine safety training is discussed.

As Tom Lake, vice president, Honda North America Purchasing, puts it, “Automakers have a responsibility to work together and offer guidance concerning the expectations we have as an industry, and to highlight the importance of strong governance structures to safeguard business ethics.

These updated Guiding Principles and Practical Guidance documents are a great resource for our supplier partners to reference as they make important decisions that impact their business and ours.”

EVOLUTION OF THE GUIDING PRINCIPLES In 2009 a European working group was created to enhance collaboration of sustainability in their supply chains; that group has been facilitated by CSR Europe, which worked with AIAG to elaborate on the initial guidelines.

Facilitated by AIAG and CSR Europe, the original AIAG guiding principles led to an unprecedented agreement among 14 global automakers in 2014, establishing a set of standards that outlined the automakers’ expectations for suppliers on human rights, environment, working conditions, and business ethics. Participating automakers included BMW Group, Chrysler Group, Daimler, Fiat, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Jaguar/Land Rover, PSA Peugeot Citroen, Scania, Toyota, Volkswagen, Volvo Cars, and Volvo Group.

While individual automotive companies may still have their own standards, codes, and policies that supersede the Guiding Principles, the strength of this collaborative, unified voice spoke clearly to the suppliers.

“Automakers and suppliers of all sizes face heightened compliance and extended responsibility expectations — from materials sourcing, handling, reporting, and disposal requirements to improving factory working conditions — so it’s imperative that we work together to develop, socialize, and deploy industry best practices on a range of issues for our global supply

chains,” says J. Scot Sharland, AIAG’s executive director.

2017 REVISION BRINGS EFFORTS TO SCALE Not surprisingly, as corporate responsibility initiatives sprouted across the global automotive industry and suppliers expanded their corporate culture and processes to embrace the Guiding Principles, additional explanatory information was needed.

With support from AIAG and Drive Sustainability (formerly the European OEM Work Group), a partnership of automotive companies that work to improve sustainability in the supply chain, the automakers responded to the need again. BMW Group, Daimler, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Group, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan, Scania, Toyota, Volkswagen Group, Volvo Cars, and Volvo Group, all participated in the December 2017 revision of the 2014 document and created the supplementary resource.

“GM views the pursuit of positive environmental and social impact throughout the supply chain as a global priority,” says Steve Kiefer, senior vice president, General Motors Global Purchasing and Supply Chain. “GM is focused on efficient business with our global partners, and the Guiding Principles ensure that the entire auto industry is working together to use our scale and resources for good.”

The revised Guiding Principles document, which underscored these OEMs’ commitment to achieving excellence and innovation in a sustainable manner, specifically outlines the industry’s expected high standards in business integrity and the social and environmental performance of the supply chain. To support the effort, AIAG developed a suite of e-tools and training accessible to all suppliers. The tools help automotive suppliers assess their readiness to meet the Guiding Principles.

The Automotive Industry Guiding Principles to Enhance Sustainability

Performance in the Supply Chain and the supplementary Global Automotive Sustainability Practical Guidance, can be downloaded at go.aiag.org/ globalguidingprinciples.

Tanya Bolden is the director of Corporate Responsibility Products & Services at AIAG. The Automotive Industry Action Group is a unique not-for-profit organization where automakers, suppliers, service providers, government entities, and individuals in academia have worked collaboratively for 35 years to drive down costs and complexity within the supply chain. AIAG membership includes preeminent manufacturers and many of their parts suppliers and service providers. Learn more about their work in corporate responsibility at AIAG.org. n

We are pleased that the effort initiated a decade ago by the North American automakers has grown in scope and global acceptance. Due to the degree of complexity in today’s automotive supply chain, it is more important than ever that we all work together and communicate these vitally important issues in a clear and unified voice.

—Tanya Bolden, AIAG’s director of corporate responsibility, products and services.

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 61

INDUSTRY NEWS

How Laws, Policies and Innovations Save Lives

Researcher Says Auto Safety Measures Prevented Millions of Deaths TEXT BY: CHRISTOPHER JENSEN / FAIRWARNING

T

raffic safety measures ranging from seat belt and drunk driving enforcement to design standards for cars and trucks “averted a public health disaster” by preventing about 5.8 million deaths in the U.S. from 1968 through 2015, according to a new study.

The analysis found that without federal and state policies, traffic deaths annually would “likely have been in the hundreds of thousands rather than tens of thousands” in recent years.

The report, published in the Journal of Public Health Policy, was by Leon Robertson, an injury epidemiology expert who taught at Yale and Harvard and has written more than 150 research papers and books, many on automotive safety. Robertson’s estimate of 5.8 million lives saved over nearly a halfcentury is almost 10 times higher than a previous government estimate for a similar period. At least one other auto safety expert characterized Robertson’s estimate as way too high.

But Robertson contends that his

62 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

peer-reviewed study reflected a broad array of factors that influence safety. He took into account the rising numbers of registered cars, trucks and motorcycles, along with increases in miles traveled.

Robertson also evaluated population growth and the increases in young, inexperienced drivers, who have a higher risk of accidents and population shifts to warmer states, where people drive more.

Robertson’s estimate looked at traffic fatalities from the years before modern safety laws were adopted. He assessed the benefits from innovations including seat belts, and air bags as well as federal standards for such improvements as stronger roofs and steering columns. Today, there are more than five dozen federal safety standards that automakers must follow, and NHTSA occasionally adds more. Also factored in were roadway improvements such as better guardrails.

Robertson acknowledged that even he was surprised by the number of

lives saved. Still, he said, “If you look at the percent effectiveness of each of these death-reduction measures that occurred over the years, it is certainly plausible that you would get in that range.”

BIG BENEFITS FROM BUCKLING UP Robertson said seat belt laws were some of the biggest life savers. The rate of seat belt use has risen from about 15 percent before states starting enacting laws requiring their use in the 1980s to more than 88 percent recently. Studies show wearing the lap and shoulder belt, reduces crash fatalities about 45 percent.

Electronic stability control — designed to prevent rollover accidents — Robertson said, is almost as effective as seat belts in saving lives. Vehicles soequipped had 42 percent fewer fatalities.

Other important factors include vehicle structural changes to absorb energy in a crash before it reaches the occupant compartment, tougher drunk

driving laws and graduated licensing, more restrictive for teenage drivers.

Estimating highway deaths is relatively easy, using police reports.

NHTSA’s figures from police reports show nearly 2.1 million traffic fatalities from 1968 to 2015. Another 37,000 lives were lost in 2016, the most recent year for which numbers are available, according to the federal agency.

Figuring out the number of lives saved is trickier. As NHTSA says on its website, “No database can provide the plethora of information that would be needed to produce exact lives saved counts.” NHTSA said it “looks forward to reviewing” Robertson’s report, but agrees that ‘lives have been saved by vehicle safety technologies over the years.”

PRAISE AND SKEPTICISM Safety advocates were buoyed

by Robertson’s findings. “This study confirms that millions of American lives have been saved as a result of smart, tough, and targeted federal, state, and local road and driver regulations, as well as mandatory vehicle safety technology,” said Jason Levine, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, a nonprofit advocacy group.

Louis Lombardo, a former NHTSA official who runs the Care For Crash Victims website, lauded the study for focusing on the “benefits of safety regulations after decades of deadly anti-regulatory policies.”

But Charles Farmer, vice president for research at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which supports strong safety measures, says Robertson makes too many assumptions over too long a period of time.

Robertson’s assessment also differs from the findings of another safety researcher, Leonard Evans, who has argued the United States has fallen far behind other countries in traffic safety.

This story was reported by FairWarning (www.fairwarning.org),a nonprofit news organization based in Pasadena, California, that focuses on public health, consumer and environmental issues. n JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 63

REGIONAL REPORTS AAMA’S MISSION is to promote growth and continuous improvement of automotive manufacturing in Alabama.

Alabama Automotive Manufacturers Association

BCA, ATN Announce Manufacturers of the Year for 2018 MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Business Council of Alabama and the Alabama Technology Network announced the 2018 Manufacturer of the Year winners during an awards luncheon ceremony at the Alabama Activity Center held April 18, 2018.

Alabama MOTY awards recognize Alabama’s manufacturing enterprises that exhibit excellence in leadership, performance, profitability and workforce relations. Winners are selected by an independent panel of judges based on demonstrations of superior

performance in customer focus, employee commitment, operating excellence continuous improvement, profitable growth and investment in training and retraining.

AAMA Suppliers of the Year 2018 Announced Also announced were the Alabama Automotive Manufacturers Association Supplier of the Year Award winners in the categories of Large and Small Manufacturer and Service Provider. Winners of this award exemplify Manufacturing Innovation, Commitment to Excellence, Dedication to Employees and Community Investment.

LARGE MANUFACTURER WINNERS

Kamtek, Birmingham, Alabama

SMALL MANUFACTURER WINNER Shoals Extrusion, Florence, Alabama

Topre America, Cullman, Alabama

SERVICE PROVIDER WINNER

Onin Staffing, Birmingham, Alabama

WKW Erbsloeh, Pell City, Alabama

SERVICE PROVIDER FINALIST

Sustained Quality Group, Bessemer, AL

Upcoming AAMA Events AAMA Maintenance Symposium • June 7 The AAMA Maintenance Symposium will be presented on June 7 by the University of Alabama College of Continuing Studies on campus in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The Symposium will update attendees on the latest trends and best practices in maintenance management and will focus on Toyota’s Maintenance Journey and their Zero Breakdown Management with the 3 Pillars of Maintenance.

Target attendees include maintenance managers, maintenance supervisors, planners, engineers and leads. Additional event information may be found at aama.ua.edu.

Supplier Diversity Conference • July 12 The Supplier Diversity Conference, in partnership with J.F. Drake State Community and Technical College, will be hosted July 12 at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama. David Fernandes from Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama will headline this one-day conference focused on important topics impacting supplier diversity in automotive manufacturing and workforce. Sponsorship and exhibit opportunities available. Details coming soon to alautoindustry.org.

Join AAMA today! If you are interested in learning more about AAMA and how you can help advance Alabama’s automotive industry, please visit ALAutoIndustry.org.

Contact: Lynsey Delane | 256.824.6407 | Ron Davis | 205.657.5101

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 65

REGIONAL REPORTS The Georgia Automotive Manufacturers Association, Inc. (GAMA) is a non-profit trade association which passionately promotes the interests of Georgia’s automotive and ground transportation industry. GAMA is a community of businesses with common interests and goals which provides a highly interactive forum to help members achieve the following: • continual improvement in their businesses • higher levels of innovation, quality, and profitability

• professional success through unique educational opportunities • successful networking among customers and peers

5TH ANNUAL GOLF TOURNAMENT GAMA held its Fifth Annual Golf Tournament supporting the Southern Automotive Women’s Forum (SAWF) on May 1, 2018. It was held at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia (near Columbus, Georgia). The golfers enjoyed bright blue skies and upper 70-degree temperatures, some fantastic rounds of golf on a beautiful course, and great networking. We even heard rumors that some fantastic deals were “teed up” on the golf course. GAMA is especially grateful to Platinum Sponsor, HPM, and Silver Sponsor, Magna.

O cto b e r 3 - 5

SouthernAutoCon.Com P RE SE NTE D BY

gama

GAMA’s primary focus this year is on hosting the Southern Automotive Conference (SAC) on October 3-5, 2018. The GAMA Teams are continuing to move full speed ahead to have this be a spectacular event, delivering exceptional value for all who attend, exhibit, and/or sponsor. Highlights include: • PMT Publishing, with their experienced SAC Team including Sheila Wardy, Molly Lipski, and Walker Sorrell, is the Event Planner and Promoter for this year’s SAC. They are doing a fantastic job.

• Sponsorships are very important to the success of events like this, and the GAMA Sponsorship Team consisting of David Eyes, Julio Gonzalez, Walter Griggs, Terry Seese, and Mike Stonecipher, are energized, organized, and are meeting regularly to help ensure the success of this event. GAMA is most grateful for their assistance.

• GAMA welcomes your support in helping obtain Sponsors by spreading the word at your company or organization. Sheila Wardy is the Director of

At l a n ta , GA Sponsorships for the SAC, and is reachable at swardy@ pmtpublishing.com, or by phone at 205-802-6363 x108.

• This will be the 11th year for the SAC, and one of the reasons for its continuing success is the support of the other regional association executives – from AAMA, MAMA, TAMA, KAIA, SCAC, and SAWF. • This year’s event is expected to host at least a dozen International Pavilions. This adds international resources and opportunities to the event, and builds on the success of the JETRO International Pavilion from 2017. GAMA welcomes any introductions you can make in this area.

• The logo and theme for this year’s event “Forward Momentum” (attached) are intended to capture the growing importance and strength of the SAC to our region and the automotive industry worldwide.

• The website for SAC 2018 is www.SouthernAutoCon. com. The website has been accepting registrations and signing up exhibitors for over a month now.

For further information, please contact Rick Walker, GAMA President, at rwalker@GAMA-Georgia.org or 770-314-9040

Mission: The Mississippi Automotive Manufacturers Association promotes the growth and development of the automotive industry in Mississippi.

The Mississippi Automotive Manufacturers Association was formed to provide a forum for interaction among automotive manufacturing companies in Mississippi. The organization serves its members by promoting the growth, development and improvement of the automotive industry. The Mississippi Automotive Manufacturers Association (MAMA) is open to companies or plants engaged in the manufacture of vehicles, suppliers and/or distributors of parts to equipment manufacturers and/or after-market distributors; and companies, organizations or advisors that have demonstrated experience with manufacturing trends, techniques, or services to the automotive industry.

SAFETY IN AUTOMOTIVE MANUFACTURING

PACCAR, Nissan, and Toyota partnered with MAMA to present Safety in Automotive Manufacturing. Members of the automotive industry joined together to learn about best practices from The Society for Maintenance & Reliability Professionals, Automotive Industry Action Group, and our local OEMs – PACCAR, Nissan, and Toyota.

2018 TECHNOLOGY SHOWCASE

As a follow up to the 2018 Innovation Conference, MAMA held its first Technology Showcase. MAMA members and Innovation Conference attendees were invited to the Nissan North America Plant in Canton, MS for an overview on new technologies that will be implemented in automotive manufacturing followed by a walking tour complete with interactive technology demonstrations about the latest, state-of-the-art automotive assembly technologies ranging from body to trim.

To join MAMA, visit www.mamaonline.net.

For questions about membership, contact Caley Dawkins – 601.750.5666 or msautomanufacturers@gmail.com

REGIONAL REPORTS TAMA helps Tennessee automotive companies, especially suppliers, react to the challenges of the global automotive marketplace.

TAMA is a membership organization with a mission to strengthen and expand Tennessee’s automotive industry. TAMA’s diverse membership includes OEMs, Tier 1, 2, and 3 suppliers, government agencies, and professional service organizations that have expertise in the automotive industry. Members enjoy access to some of Tennessee’s top automotive executives, strong support from the state’s economic development team, and discounted fees to membership meetings and other TAMA events.

TA M A’ S ANN U A L S P ON S OR S

TAMA 2018 BOARD OF DIRECTORS President, Rick Youngblood, Nissan North America Vice President, Daniel Davidson, Calsonic Kansei North America, Inc. Treasurer, Jim Leyhew, Kasai North America, Inc. Dex Battista, Magna International Luca Bovalino, Magneti Marelli Ed Carter, C&S Plastics

Andre Gist, Manufacturers Industrial Group Victoria Hirschberg, TN Dept. of Economic & Community Development Barry Owens, Bridgestone Americas, Inc. Marius Sipos, YAPP USA Automotive Systems, Inc. Kim Williams, Tenneco

To join TAMA, visit www.tennauto.org.

For questions about membership, contact Ashley Frye 615-525-4533 email: ashley@tennauto.org

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 69

I N D U S T R Y I N D I C AT O R S

Average Vehicle Age The average age of vehicles in the U.S. is rising, due to substantial increases in reliability. The average car in the U.S. is 11.5 years old.

Source: AutoAlliance.org, state fact sheets

Southeast Auto Stocks Company/Security

Headquarters

S.E. U.S.

Ticker

Exchange

Closing Price 5/1/2018

Closing Price 5/1/2017

Stock Price Growth

BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke AG ADR)

Munchen, Germany

S.C.

BMWYY

OTC

36.75

31.92

15.13h

Ford Motor Co.

Dearborn, Michigan, United States

KY.

F

NYSE

11.26

11.42

-1.40i

General Motors Co.

Detroit, Michigan, United States

KY., TN.

GM

NYSE

36.42

34.2

6.49h

Honda Motor Co. Ltd.

Minato, Tokyo, Japan

AL., S.C.

HMC

NYSE

33.91

29.08

16.61h

Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd.

Seoul, South Korea

AL.

HYMLF

OTC

120

120

0.00

Kia Motors Corp.

Seoul, South Korea

GA.

KIMTF

OTC

30.3

32.3

-6.19i

Mazda Motor Corp.

Hiroshima, Japan

AL.

MZDAF

OTC

13.43

14.49

-7.32i

Mercedes-Benz (Daimler AG)

Stuttgart, Baden-Wurttenberg, Germany

AL., GA., S.C.

DDAIF

OTC

78.28

74.9

4.51h

Mitsubishi Motors Corp.

Minato, Tokyo, Japan

KY.

MMTOF

OTC

7.32

6.292

16.34h

Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.

Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan

MS., TN.

NSANF

OTC

10.5

9.46

10.99h

Porsche Automobile Pfd.

Stuttgart, Baden-Wurttenberg, Germany

GA.

POAHF

OTC

85.23

58.75

45.07h

Toyota Motor Corp. Ltd. Ord.

Toyota, Aichi, Japan

AL., KY., MS.

TM

NYSE

130.97

108.3

20.93h

Volkswagen Ag Ord.

Wolfsburg, Germany

TN.

VLKAF

OTC

202.95

163.81

23.89h

Volvo AB ADR

Gothenburg, Sweden

S.C.

VLVLY

OTC

16.93

16.39

3.29h

70 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

BY T H E N U M B E R S

200,000+ Number of auto industry jobs in Kentucky. wkyt.com

4

Number of new production lines being added by auto supplier Denso to its Athens, Tenn. plant. southernautocorridor.com

600

Number of new jobs anticipated in connection with battery plant and global logistics center as Vance, Ala.-based Mercedes-Benz U.S. International launches electronic vehicle production. al.com

$1.3 43,000 ONE BILLION MILLION Value of renovation to Toyota’s Georgetown, Ky. plant which will provide flexibility for the plant to produce additional types of vehicles. autonews.com

$4.1

BILLION Total compensation by international automotive manufacturers to employees in Georgia. globalautomakers.org

Lab1886 Innovation lab planned by MercedesBenz in Atlanta, a reference to the year the founders of the parent company built the first automobile powered by internal combustion. southernautocorridor.com

Number of Toyota Corolla vehicles produced at Toyota’s Blue Springs, Miss. plant as of December 2017. businessfacilities.com

$340

MILLION Anticipated investment by Volkswagen in connection with plans to produce Atlas vehicles at its Chattanooga, Tenn. plant. southernautocorridor.com

108

Number of new jobs anticipated in connection with an expansion

by Ladson, S.C.-based Innovative Vehicle Solutions, a builder of custom commercial vehicles. businessfacilities.com

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 71

KUDOS

The Eco Vision Initiative DENSO’s environmental emphasis aims to erase the supplier’s carbon footprint, and enhance its contribution to the ecological future

BY CARA D. CLARK / GRAPHICS COURTESY OF DENSO

Bob Townsend

I

t’s one thing to talk about the importance of environmental preservation and minimizing pollution in manufacturing. For international automotive giant DENSO, Corp., it’s much more than a discussion.

DENSO is working diligently to remove carbon footprints, and beyond that, carbon tire treads. That emphasis has been a guiding principle of the firm for decades.

Bob Townsend, DENSO’s vice president of corporate services, says working in harmony with nature is part of the company’s culture and

commitment, illustrated through Eco Vision 2025, a 10-year environmental action plan designed to resolve environmental and energy issues. This commitment isn’t new to DENSO, which spun out of Toyota Motor Corp., as Nippondenso Co., Ltd, in 1949, and now provides powertrain, thermal systems, electronics and driving control and safety systems.

Concern for community and environment is at the forefront of every DENSO factory.The company originated in rural Japan’s farmland rather than a high-tech city like Tokyo, the company learned important lessons about environmental impact.

In its infancy, the manufacturing plant accidentally released drainage into farmland, impacting crops. When that occurred, DENSO made a commitment that such an accident would never be repeated. Instead of sweeping that past incident under the rug, the company turned the negative into an imperative.

Already committed to be the best possible neighbors wherever they operate in the world, DENSO doubled down on that with the creation of its Eco Vision policy that dates back 20 years.

“It’s part of our heritage and

Eco Vision 2025

72 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

ingrained in the company,” Townsend said. “That’s why Eco Vision is such a big part of the way we do business. We want to evaluate and analyze a true impact and how we work to improve that and create a positive impact.”

Since 2005 there have been several iterations of Eco Vision, with the latest building on previous groundwork.

“Our environmental plan is aligned with our overall plan,” Townsend says. “As a member of the automotive industry, we have two potentially negative impacts on society. The first involves mobility and traffic fatalities, and a lot of our initiatives are focused on how to improve safety. The second impact of automotive is an impact on the environment. As a company, ‘how do we reduce the impact?’”

DENSO sees products, factories, associates and management as three primary objectives for Eco Vision 2025 targets: “Energy ½, Clean x 2 and Green x 2.”

There are 10 specific action plans: Ultimate fuel efficiency, Minimum CO2, low carbon lifestyle and transport, eco materials and low emission, minimum impact production, earth consciousness knowledge and skills, new green technologies, nature rich workplace, environmental action

and environmental value efficient management.

Townsend says Eco Vision 2025 aims to halve automotive CO2 emissions by developing new technologies and products to improve fuel efficiency and use various fuels in vehicles. This will affect even the amount of CO2 the company’s associates produce in the vehicles they drive to work.

In reducing energy and in its Clean x 2 mission, DENSO looks to eliminate impacts such as production waste or waste usage and “integrate eco-friendly materials for environmental impact reduction,” he says.

DENSO is therefore trying to halve the impacts of environmentally hazardous substances and its industrial emissions and waste. The company focuses its efforts on improving air quality where it operates with technology to reduce vehicle exhaust emissions, and to decrease waste and water usage at its factories and throughout its logistics chain.

“In Green x 2, how do we green up our areas of technology?” Townsend says. “How do we make plants more green and emphasize green in the communities in which we operate?”

The answer: promoting green environmental businesses, such as biofuel research and agricultural support, as well as raising environmental awareness among employees and communities.

At DENSO Manufacturing Tennessee, the company’s largest U.S. manufacturing facility producing starters, alternators, instrument clusters and electronic products and inverters for hybrid vehicles, a prime example of

greening is a partnership with “Keep Blount County Beautiful” to create EcoPark. The park draws local students and families to the park to learn about recycling, composting and pollution prevention, including through capturing and cleaning storm-water.

Back in the 2015 rendition of Eco Vision, DENSO developed a target of zero landfill waste objective, and through its efforts, already has accomplished that mission with zero landfill waste in manufacturing across America.

“Now we’re looking at total waste in 2025,” Townsend says. “We’re looking at reducing materials and recycling rates internally and externally. In our implementation, we do that by reducing scrap rates. A machine will create a certain number of reject parts, but our focus is to improve the process to eliminate this excess waste.”

If waste is produced - take volatile organic compounds (VOCs) - the company works to introduce that back into the system. “Capturing VOCs and using as a fuel to turn into oxidizer means not emitting them and actually using them to reduce CO2,” Townsend says.

As a rule, plants use compressors to cool down equipment, employing ozone-depleting refrigerant. DENSO’s Tennessee plant by contrast, uses a small ice plant on-site to generate ice during the evening offload. During the day, that ice is used to cool equipment, reducing hazardous waste and overall energy use.

“We’re always looking at how to improve the process,” Townsend says.

“As we develop new product lines,

we’re developing equipment smaller and more efficient than traditional equipment. We’re shrinking the box and shrinking our impact. Whatever we use to create those products will be efficient in operation.”

Equipment that communicates is critical, so DENSO implements the Internet of Things (IoT), in its factories, enabling machines to talk to each other across the globe in real time data.

“If one of our plants is doing something successfully, we can learn from each other,” Townsend says, adding that IoT helps improve processes in real time around the globe.”

DENSO is also studying its products for a life-cycle assessment to determine how to improve each product’s efficiency.

“A lot of those products we are developing are supporting electrification,” Townsend says. “As we look at the strategy and future of advanced mobility, we consider how do we support plug-in vehicles and hybrid vehicles. We’re looking at connectivity and autonomous driving.”

Townsend’s background in biology, chemistry and occupational safety, makes his work with Eco Vision a natural fit. He likes telling the Eco Vision story.

“We use that story to attract the talent we need to continue to evolve and show these young engineers and young workers how we are contributing to society and the environment,” he says. “The industry is moving in this direction. I have heard statistics that in the next 10 years, the industry will evolve more than it did in the last 100. We plan to stay at the forefront.” n

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 73

CAREER NOTES Masamichi Kogai, who was Mazda Motor Corporation President and CEO when the company announced its upcoming joint venture plant with Toyota to be built in Huntsville, Alabama earlier this year, has been named director. Taking his place as president and CEO is Akira Marumoto.

Marumoto previously served as Director Executive Vice President Assistant to President; Oversight of Operations in the Americas and Administrative Domain.

Toyota Motor North America announced changes in its Plano, Texas facility. As of April 1, Norm Bafunno became senior vice president, Unit Manufacturing and Engineering, making him responsible for all unit plants and Unit Production Engineering in North America.At the same time, John Kennelly was promoted to group vice president, Competitiveness Project in Plano, where he has responsibilities for identifying opportunities to realize revenue enhancement and cost reduction leading to greater regional performance.

Ashley Phillips on April 1 became the new assistant director for South Alabama at AIDT. Phillips has been with AIDT since 1997 has worked on several projects across the state, including as the project manager for the Airbus Assembly Final Assembly Line project in Mobile. In her new position as assistant director for South Alabama, Phillips will be responsible for the oversight of all AIDT services in the Southern Alabama region.

TMNA also announced the retirement of Jeff Moore on March 31 after completing more than 19 years. He ended his career as senior vice president, Unit Manufacturing and Engineering in Georgetown, Kentucky. n 74 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 75

Index AAMA.....................................28,29, 47, 58,59, 64 ABL Technic..................................................... 49 AIAG.................................................... 2,27, 60,61 AIDT....................................................4, 15,19, 21 Air Hydro Power Inc........................................ 14 Akira Marumoto........................................................... 74 Alabama Community College System....... 9,29 Alabama Power............................................... 15 Alabama State Port Authority....................... 18 Alabama Workforce Council.......................... 21 Amazon............................................................ 12 Andrew Taitz................................................................. 15 Arlington Logistics Center................... 30,31,32 Ashley Frye.................................................................... 68 Ashley Phillips............................................................... 74 Assembly Tool Specialists.............................. 23 Association of Global Automakers............... 25 Atlanta Regional Commission....................... 16 ATLASBX........................................................... 12 Augustus L. Collins...................................................... 33 AutoAlliance.org............................................. 70 Autocar............................................................. 15 Automotive Security Review Board.............. 36 Baidu USA......................................................... 19 Barack Obama.............................................................. 24 Barber Motorsports........................................ 21 BCA................................................................... 47 Bill Ford.......................................................................... 16 Bill Johns........................................................................ 13 Birmingham Business Alliance...................... 15 Birmingham Civil Rights Institute................ 22 Blueshift Materials......................................... 16 BMW.......................................................15,17, 61 Bob Townsend............................................................. 72 BP...................................................................... 18 Bryan Lee....................................................................... 45 Buick................................................................. 12 Cadillac........................................................ 12,13 Caley Dawkins............................................................... 67 Carla Bailo...........................................................24,25,26 Center for Automotive Research........ 24,25,26 Charles Farmer............................................................. 62 Chevrolet......................................................... 12 Consumer Watchdog...................................... 18 Daimler........................................................13, 61 Dave Tatman................................................................. 65 David Fernades............................................................ 16 David Heineman.......................................................... 40 Deborah A.P. Hersman.............................................. 14 Delco Remy...................................................... 59 Delphi Automotive.......................................... 19 DENSO......................................................... 72,73 Donald Trump.........................................................18,24 Drive.ai............................................................. 19 EDPA................................................................. 22 EFC International.............................................. 5 EPA.......................................................... 24,25,26 Fayette Fabrication........................................ 59 Federal Mogul.................................................. 59 Ferrari............................................................... 42 Fiat Chrysler.........................16,17, 19, 51, 60,61 Ford............................13, 14, 16,17, 19, 50, 60,61 76 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

GAMA................................................................ 66 Georgia Ports Authority................................. 18 GM .........................................13, 14, 19,30,31,32, 40,41,42,43,44,45,50, 58,59, 60,61, 78 GMC............................................................. 12,13 Google.........................................................19, 38 GulfQuest...................................................... 7,12 Harlan Charles.........................................................41,42 Harley Earl..................................................................... 44 Henry Ford.................................................................... 46 Herbert Diess............................................................... 14 Hino.................................................................. 51 Hiroto Saikawa............................................................. 17 Hodges................................................................ 3 Honda.......................................... 20,21,22, 60,61 HPJ.................................................................... 63 Hyundai.................................................. 12,14,17 I-22 Alliance..................................................... 74 IFS................................................................ 56,57 International Automotive Components...... 31 J.W. Burton..................................................................... 41 Jack Mazurak................................................................. 51 Jaguar/Land Rover.......................................... 61 James K. Lyons.............................................................. 18 James Meredith............................................................ 54 James Richter...........................................................34,35 Jamison Money Farmer PC............................. 23 Jeff Lynn......................................................................... 29 Jeff Moore...................................................................... 74 Jeff Tomko...................................................................... 22 Jeff Williams................................................................... 32 Jonathan Matus............................................................ 19 KAIA.................................................................. 65 Katherine James......................................................56,57 Katie Ellison................................................................... 42 Kay Ivey.....................................................................15, 18 Keeton.............................................................. 49 Kelly.................................................................. 63 Ken Knight..................................................................... 13 Kia....................................................................... 6 Larry Lapinski................................................................ 31 Leadec.............................................................. 49 Lear Corp.......................................................... 14 Lee Jones..................................................................50,51 Leon Robertson........................................................... 62 Leroy Hurt................................................................28,29 Lexus................................................................ 16 Malika Reed Wilkins..................................................... 16 MAMA............................................................... 67 Martin Luther King, Jr.................................................. 22 Masamichi Kogai.......................................................... 74 Mazda....................................................14, 15, 19 McAbee Construction..................................... 39 McAfee........................................................36, 38 McWane Science Center................................. 22 Mercedes-Benz................................18,19, 51, 77 Meridian MPA.................................................. 18 Michael Reis.............................................................52,53 Mike Oatridge....................................................20,21,22 Minact.............................................................. 33 Morris South.................................................... 33 Motor and Equipment Manufacturers......... 25

MSU CAVS......................................................... 80 NAFTA..........................................................15, 16 Narmco............................................................. 37 National Corvette Museum.. 40,41,42,43,44,45 National Safety Council................................. 14 NHTSA.......................................................... 62,63 Nick Richards...........................................................31,32 Nissan.......................................... 13,17,19, 54,55 Norm Bafunno.............................................................. 74 NorthPoint Developmen...................... 30,31,32 NSF.................................................................... 39 NTSB................................................................. 16 NTSB................................................................. 24 Omnex.............................................................. 79 Optiware..................................................... 52,53 Pam Confer..............................................................54,55 Phil Bryant..................................................................... 13 PMT................................................................... 74 PMT Media & Events....................................... 37 Powermotion Inc............................................. 14 PSA Peugeot Citroen....................................... 61 Richardson Molding........................................ 13 Rick Walker.................................................................... 66 Robert Murchison........................................................ 18 Roger Varin.................................................................... 46 Ron Davis..................................................... 28,29, 58,59 SAAM Puertos.................................................. 18 SAC 2018........................................................6, 66 SC Future Makers.......................................34, 35 SCAC.................................................................. 69 Scania............................................................... 61 SCMA.......................................................34,35, 69 Scott Russo................................................................... 29 Stäubli..............................................11, 19, 46,48 Steve Dyer..................................................................... 13 Steve Hanschuh........................................................... 25 Steve Kiefer................................................................... 61 Stoneride In..................................................... 18 Systems Automotive Group........................... 11 TAMA................................................................ 68 Tanya Bolden...........................................................60,61 Telenav............................................................. 19 Teresa Hart................................................................... 40 Tesla......................................................15, 18, 38 Texas Instruments.......................................... 18 Tom Lake....................................................................... 60 Tony Uphoff.................................................................. 51 Toyota..12,13,14, 15, 16, 19,29, 50,51, 60,61, 72 Tsutomu Morimoto..................................................... 22 UA Safe State................................................... 75 UAW.................................................................. 13 University of Alabama CCS....................... 28,29 VASCOR........................................................ 50,51 Volkswagen...........................................14, 17, 61 Volvo............................................................12, 61 Waymo............................................................. 19 William Freels................................................................ 12 Yale Zhang..................................................................... 18 Yorozu Automotive......................................... 17 Zendrive........................................................... 19 ZF Lemforder................................................... 59 Zoox.................................................................. 19

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 77

VINTAGE

Corvette, at 65

Still striking an imposing figure years after becoming America’s Sport’s Car, the Chevrolet Corvette has become nothing less than an icon TEXT BY: NICK PATTERSON / PHOTOS COURTESY OF: NATIONAL CORVETTE MUSEUM/GM

A

t an age when many people hope to be cruising into retirement, the Corvette is doing anything but slowing down. The venerable American sports car turned 65 this year, and the latest model is still turning heads, as noted by GM Authority’s Sean Szymkowski: “The 2019 C7 Corvette ZR1 has proven its a force to be reckoned with again and again. Now, we have more proof the ZR1 truly is king of the Corvettes.”

The Corvette remains a formidable contender, and is still drawing big crowds (as noted by our Spotlight story in this issue).

The first Vette, built in Flint, Mich, was introduced to the world in 1953 at the GM Motorama, the company’s traveling auto show. The first edition of the Corvette made its debut before 45,000 people on the opening day of the Motorama in New York City.

The car, named after a type of small, fast warship by Myron E. “Scottie” Scott (an artist and photographer who worked in GM’s public relations department), has been a fixture on American and international roads ever since. “The Corvette is the

78 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018

world’s longest-running, continuously produced passenger car with more than 1.6 million produced,”according to GM’s corvetteassembly.com website.

Since 1981, GM has built the Corvette at its plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky, where it has also become the official sports car of the commonwealth. And over the years the Corvette has become so iconic that it has been a frequent subject of pop culture. Besides Prince’s famous Little Red Corvette, just consider a few of the places “America’s sports car” has turned up: For instance, in the classic TV show

Route 66 the main characters drove 1960 and 1961 Corvettes around the country. The Beach Boys sang about the Stingray in their 1963 song Shut Down. Elvis Presley drives a red 1959 Stingray racer in the movie Clambake.

In 1973 alone Corvettes appear in American Graffiti, the James Bond film Live and Let Die, the blaxploitation flick Cleopatra Jones, and the NBC pilot for the Bill Bixby television series, The Magician. The car is featured in the 1978 movie Corvette Summer. From The A Team, to Oscar-winning movies The Right Stuff, and Terms of Endearment to Gremlins, to the Equalizer-like television show Stingray, the Corvette has had more than its 15 minutes of fame.

Rather than resting on the Corvette’s laurels, GM engineers continue reaching for performance achievements. The 212-mph, 755 horsepower ZR1, mentioned above, is “the most powerful production Corvette ever made,” according to chevrolet.com. “ZR1 wields a new hand-assembled 6.2L LT5 supercharged small block V8 engine,” the website notes. Chevrolet says the latest iteration is “a supercar that pushes Corvette’s performance legacy with the highest power, greatest track performance and most advanced technology in its production history.”

“I’ve never driven a Corvette like this before, and nobody else has either, because there’s never been one like this before,” said Mark Reuss, executive vice president, Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain.

Any enthusiast will tell you, the Corvette, as a general proposition, has really never given up it’s place in the American sports car pantheon. n

Not resting on its laurels, Corvette keeps turning heads; the Corvette ZR1 recently set a new lap record at the National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park

JUNE/JULY 2018 / Southern Automotive Alliance 79

80 | Southern Automotive Alliance / JUNE/JULY 2018